Habitual Gratitude

Today I am grateful for the pause I took this morning to watch "A Grateful Day" "and listen to a couple of songs that bring me peace. I am also grateful for my sister Danita and the relationship we have today. Happy Birthday Danita! Do some special things to celebrate special you :-) Happy Halloween to those of you who take part in it. We'll save the history lessons and commentary on commercialism for some other time. Let's keep it light and have a little fun today. The school I work at really gets into this day and there will be plenty of fun and costumes. I got the idea for my "costume" a few weeks ago and ordered a couple things. It's a simple costume, but it fits me and what I am about. Here are the key pieces: A t-shirt and a button. Pause. Breathe. I will try to live this mindful moment today, moment by moment. I hope to share pauses and some deep breaths with students and staff too. Simple costume with a significant reminder.

Today I am grateful for prayer as a source of comfort and strength, and for the variety of prayers I have incorporated into my mindfulness and meditation practices. I am also grateful for a cup of coffee to enjoy this morning. Let's just say I have gotten pretty used to some daily grind to help me face the daily grind. Gratefulness abounds, even when considering a simple cup of coffee. Here's a short list of gratitudes regarding my basic, no frills, morning coffee: *clean and convenient water to get a pot of coffee started *money that allowed me to purchase coffee grown and packaged by others *the percolator we like to use and electricity to power it *a mug from a friend to remind me of recovery and letting go *working arms to reach that mug on a higher shelf in our kitchen Working arms. As I considered them today, I was reminded of the weeks post-mastectomy when that wasn't the case. Just after surgery, I couldn't lift my arms much at all. As I healed, had ...

Today I am grateful for family visitors over the weekend and a beautiful walk at dusk last evening with Darcy. Thank you to my brother Lee and his wife Terri for coming to visit and being here for Sam's team's playoff game on Saturday night. It was a win for us and we are on to the section final game Friday night!  It was also a historic game on the field that has been home to Raiders football for over eighty years. It was the last game played on the grass. It is being replaced with turf. I thought about that as I soaked and scrubbed Sam's dirty uniform yesterday morning. There's something I can appreciate about real dirt on a football uniform. And there's also something I won't miss next year. Todd Field at McNamara Stadium started out as a limestone quarry and city dump. Part of the stone walls and seating were constructed as a WPA project in the 1930's. There was even a tunnel under the busy nearby highway for years, allowing safety for those coming...

Today I am grateful that my sister Mary Jo got good news and that Darcy and I enjoyed some relaxing time with a backyard fire yesterday afternoon. After a scan on Thursday, Mary Jo heard the results yesterday and they were hopeful. The chemo made more progress on the cancer. She is taking a break from IV chemo and going on oral chemo for three months. Infusion chemo tends to be tougher on the body and this will give her a break in ways. There truly is no treatment break though when you have metastatic cancer. It's just encouraging to hear better news and know that there is more time to enjoy and take in the best things about life: family, friends, the upcoming holidays, the little gifts in each day. An approach we can all benefit from. You are in our thoughts and prayers daily Mary Jo, Clay, and family. I am a long-time fan of the lyrics and music of Bruce Springsteen and even saw him in concert at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa back in the early nineties. It was a great show....

Today I am grateful for my hearing and the soothing comfort of the typical sounds we hear. I am also grateful for my recovery from alcoholism, day by day. As I considered the gentle disciplines and practices of mindfulness and living gratefully, I received some gentle reminders of my priorities. My overall health and well-being start with my recovery from alcoholism. Without that, I stand to lose everything else. I do daily work for my daily disease, but when things get hectic and the pace harried, I may be going through the motions and not applying the emotional commitment. So as I drove to work yesterday morning, striving to be mindfully present, I noticed the car in front of me had "whiskey plates" on it. These are license plates that Minnesotans convicted of drunk driving may be required to use for a time. Good reminder to me to not take sobriety for granted. I was a drunk driver. I survived and also didn't cause accidents involving others. For this, I am truly ...

Today I am grateful for time to sit outside and for the comfort of warm clothing and hot coffee.  I am especially thinking of my sister Mary Jo this morning. She has a scan today and will learn soon what the cancer in her body has been doing, or hopefully not doing. Thinking of you, sending prayers and positive energy Mary Jo. Fear and worry grip me at times. I can only imagine how they hold you in a vise. It has been a very busy week so far at work and home, early mornings and long days. Lots of good things, but exhausting.  I am treating myself to some slower, more reflective time this morning. It was fitting when this showed up as today's "Word for the Day" at gratefulness.org : "When we persevere with the help of a gentle discipline,  we slowly come to hear the still, small voice and to feel the delicate breeze,  and so to come to know the presence of Love." (Henri Nouwen) Busy weeks and facing fears are each about perseverance. The gent...

Today I am grateful for supportive co-workers and for the teamwork that helped my husband Darcy, our son Sam and I complete a task last evening. I also appreciated the response that my poem for my father got yesterday after I posted it. That poem helped me process the 20th anniversary of his death. Writing always helps me move through and clarify my emotions, both positive and challenging ones. To read and see how my words touched others means so much to me. Several family members talked about Dad's love of cards. We grew up playing cards and watching the adults play whenever they got together. What a good way to pass the time and share some laughter. The laughter and fun has always outweighed the competitive nature some may have, at least in my memory. We played some 500 and euchre the other day, in Dad's memory. He wasn't usually too boisterous when it came to playing, but he sure enjoyed it. He loved to bid and get the blinds and take chances. He wasn't a big r...