Habitual Gratitude

Today I am grateful for the lines in my journals that somehow help guide my thoughts. I am also  grateful for vehicles in good working order and money to pay for gas for them.  In the final installment of breaking down a wonderful quote, we get to the dividends, the real meat of it all. Gratitude practice and an open mind and heart work magic on us fragile and flawed human beings. "Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life . . . and the world."  Sarah Ban Breathnach One might think that after 22 years of daily gratitude journaling and five years of habitually blogging about the topic, that the pace of change has slowed for me. It hasn't. Maybe because I started from such a deep hole of self-pity and self-centered thinking. (Whether I am thinking good or ill of myself, lots of time spent thinking about little ole' me is sel...

Today I am grateful for a good visit to the vet for Oliver and for the kind and gentle approach used by the vet and staff where we go. I am also grateful for the feel of raindrops on my skin.  Here is part three of the quote dissection and interpretation that is underway:  "Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life . . . and the world."  Sarah Ban Breathnach Transcendent moments of awe can be as simple as realizing that my son's facial features are all his, but also parts of his father and I. Or the wave of gratitude that hits my skin as I feel a cooling breeze and give thanks for my sense of touch. Maybe it can be as routine as watching another sunrise sitting on our front patio. The same patio and the same sun, on a new day in a new way. It makes all the difference. There is nothing routine about a sunrise when one is really paying...

Today I am grateful for what writing poetry has allowed me to give to myself and also share with others. I am also grateful for an easy morning run to work my muscles after a long training run on Saturday.  I appreciated the time Darcy and I spent at my friend Claire's 80th birthday party yesterday. She has touched many lives and I am grateful to be one of them. She wears her age well--because she starts from the inside with heart, soul, and an energetic spirit.  Back to breaking down this quote:  "Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life . . . and the world."  Sarah Ban Breathnach To encounter epiphanies, I need to slow myself and my thinking down, even momentarily, or I miss the message in the moment. No, I don't spend my day moment by moment receiving one epiphany after another. Still, when I can be still, I get the awakening...

Today I am grateful for a good training run yesterday morning with Darcy, for time with our grandson Leo, and for my friend Claire. We try to never forget how fortunate we are to be able to run, cover the distances we do, and also share in this passion for staying fit and challenging ourselves with marathons. Leo's energy and playful smile warm my heart. Claire turns 80 today. We met through breast cancer support group and I am so thankful we did. She has such spirit! Happy Birthday Claire! I am also grateful for words and the way they carry so much meaning. They can be mixed and matched and placed in countless combinations that provoke food for thought. Here is a quote that says so much it really needs to be broken down: "Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life . . . and the world."  Sarah Ban Breathnach Gratitude bestows reverence. Appreciation ...

Today I am grateful for a comfortable bed and pillows for rest. I am also grateful for the insights of our son Sam and that he shares them. "It is enough to be grateful for the next breath."   Br. David Steindl-Rast In busy times, days with full schedules, and the way I tend to expect much of myself, these words are like a salve applied to the spinning parts of my overactive mind. A salve to reduce friction and slow the rotation, allowing me to return more fully to the present. Admittedly, on some days the reprieve is short and the spinning ramps up again, but even a short reprieve is better than none. Gratitude is really about perspective and perception, and it is surprising how a few moments of mindful gratitude can reel in a runaway brain and bring me back to heart and soul. Brother David is one of my favorite writers and proponents of the virtue of gratefulness. He has done much to advance the simple practice of simply noticing the world around us in this moment...

Today I am grateful for the opportunity to share my breast cancer experiences with someone newly diagnosed. I am also grateful for rain that we needed. Tuesday I wrote about Nora McInerny's podcast "Terrible, Thanks for Asking." In one of the first podcasts I listened to, McInerny called Anne Lamott "her patron saint."  I knew I would like her work after hearing that. I haven't been disappointed. Anne Lamott is one of my favorite authors and McInerny does in fact have a similar style. Real feelings. Real messy. Real pain and poignancy. Real funny. Her memoir It's Okay to Laugh (Crying is Cool Too)  is worth the read. It weaves stories of her upbringing and early adult years with the defining events of a miscarriage, and her father and her husband both dying of cancer, all within a few weeks. Grief is something that we all face, sooner or later. The more we live life and the longer we live it, losses will occur. They can't be avoided. Wh...

Today I am grateful for conversations with my friends Julie and Sheila yesterday, and for the beauty of the fog-laden sunrise this morning. In the light of that sunrise, literally and figuratively, this quote from www.gratefulness.org   was especially fitting as I scrolled through my email inbox just now: When before the beauty of a sunset or a mountain, you pause and exclaim,  "Ah," you are participating in divinity."  Ancient Hindu Text Participating in divinity, or rushing headlong into my day and the long list of what I think I need to get done?  It should be an easy call. Yet, my brain tries to pull me from a divine view and back into ramped up thinking.  So I pause, and I practice. I pause and appreciate the filtered sun through the low fog and the top branches of the pine tree across the street. I pause again and feel the rhythm of my breathing. I pause again. "Ah," the beauty of nature is stunning and awesome. And I get to be here ...