In the early awareness time before my brain starts wandering through the dusky streets of yesterdays, I remember it’s up to me to find the low hanging blessings. I choose to focus on the gifts and let the worries and concerns remain in the weeds below.
I am grateful for space and time and the knowing what I need to find my center again. I am grateful for my awareness of discomfort reminding me enough, I’ve had enough, so designing my days ahead without discomfort. I am grateful for human life around me accompanying me on this journey. I am grateful for my heart, the city center where those who have left their humanity exist beyond form.
I am grateful.
Gratitude is grounding and focusing. It is another anchor in my life. These days I am living with new routines, new rules, new awareness that take up space in my already full mind. I am learning to set aside the old and welcome in the new normal. I choose not to hold my breath until the old returns. There are no guarantees the old will be returning. There are no guarantees the new will be staying. One day at a time. One mindful step at a time. One gratitude at a time.
I am grateful.
An Attitude of Gratitude Jann Rau
Choose an attitude of Gratitude Apply throughout the day With an attitude of Gratitude Thing will flow your way Give thanks for things that happen Appreciate experiences anew Look to your inner guidance To tell you what to do If you focus on the positive Even though you're feeling bleak An amazing thing will happen To your mind within a week You will see the brighter side Your spirits they will lift Then you'll realise you have inside A most amazing gift. Life is full of challenges Sometimes they're big, sometimes they're small When you train your mind to see the best You will find your way through all Be gentle and persistent, Tell your mind you are aware To learn new skills may take some time But you need never fear With your will and a dash of persistence You will begin to make your way Reflect on the things you've accomplished To give you a boost each day From Monday through to Sunday Gaining momentum through the week Your actions build upon each other Bringing the confidence you seek Take time to re-evaluate For all that you have done With an attitude of Gratitude You have surely won.
Participants’ Reflections:
During the meditation, I was thinking about the implication sign (=>) in mathematics. There’s also a double implication sign (<=>) which means A implies B and B implies A. I thought about how an attitude of gratitude is like that, that one implies the other. My parents used to lose everything in the world, and when I used to go home on weekends to visit, a lot of the time it was a weekend of finding things that had been lost. They had a list, and it was not how I wanted to spend the weekend but I knew I wanted to be helpful so I engaged in the searches. One time, I found my mother’s glasses between towels in the linen closet. When I lose things now, I just think “I’m going to find that thing, those glasses, the car keys.” That puts me in a settled state of mind, and then it is easier to back up through the flowchart of what I’ve done and where I’ve been. I am grateful for the attitude that I’ve learned to develop. Gratitude implies attitude and attitude implied gratitude.
I liked the line gratitude is grounding because it is an alliteration. It’s easy to remember. And focusing -- it really is. When you are grounded in gratitude, then your attitude about things can be different. Today, I’m taking my packages to the post office in a cart and walking downtown. I am grateful. I love learning. I have two non-fiction books for each of my grandnieces and nephews. I’ve been doing it for at least 15 years. I love finding non-fiction books. I remember when I first started teaching, the first graders weren’t allowed in the non-fiction part of the media center at school because the librarian thought they couldn’t read that well. But they are interested in lots of things. I don’t care whether my grandnieces and nephews are interested in the book, the books are interesting. And they may get interested because they are right there. It doesn’t matter because my gratefulness is in my love of learning and I love finding the books and reading through them. I always learn interesting things when I gather the books. Thank you.
Thank you all, especially those who shared yesterday after my reading (see Dec 1 blog). I have had trouble with understanding that Sufi story from the first valley. I did the best I could, and I’m grateful for the insights people offered yesterday.
I am grateful for you all. I read yesterday’s reading several times. I imagined flocks of birds weaving in and out of the seven valleys. There are so many little things one can be grateful for every day. Getting a couple of bath towels so that I can put my washed hair up in a towel—I say thank you whenever I do it. The other day I was cooking something in hot water and a can fell out of the cupboard. I said thank you because it didn’t fall into the boiling water. Even the mundane. Last night, I was really low on gas. I got to a gas station where the gas was very expensive. I put some in. I was so grateful I didn’t run out. After I finished pumping the gas, I said thank you God, thank you Universe. It’s mindful living.
As always, I’m grateful for this group. I look forward to it all day long. Each day, I know my day will start out well. Yesterday, I had to help my mother clean out her apartment. Every horizontal surface is filled with things. I said a prayer, “God, I need you to help me with this. I’m just one person. I’m going to remain calm; it’s just stuff.” Things flowed well. The ladies’ auxiliary took things, others took furniture. I wasn’t sure what to do with the canned goods. I walked down the hall and there was a man with boxes. I asked him if I could have some of the boxes, and he said, ‘no, we are collecting canned goods.’ I was able to give him the canned goods. I can’t communicate with my mother, but the universe is helping. I was so grateful. Synchronicity, cooperation, acceptance.
Thank you again for great writing and reading. Gratitude and finding things. I’ve been working on trying to recover myself since things happened that constricted me. I’ve been using the term finding myself. Yesterday, I had some breakthroughs. I felt there were a couple of places where it felt risky to say what was real for me. I recognized I can do it when I know it’s safe and I know how it will land. It’s scarier when I want to say something and I don’t know where it’s going to go. I had two incidences yesterday. Each time, I said a prayer to say what I needed to say and asked that it would come out with love. And then I let go of where it went. Taking that risk gave me so much gratitude last night. I did a piece of work and I was just giggling. The joy was just coming up. When I first came to this meditation space, my energy was so closed down and I couldn’t smile. So to have that joy bubbling up last night and that it was okay to be seen because I had two successes where I was seen and not crucified, I acknowledge this is powerful work we are doing here. It’s what I think is needed so much in the world. I crawled into bed last night and made a long gratitude list.
I can so relate to feeling constricted and wanting to share a truth. And then living on the edge of that cliff when a truth is shared. I can so feel the truth of that because I’ve done it before. I build trust in myself as I practice that. In my mind, there is the audience out there judging me. They are still there from my past. I am standing up to them in my mind. To be able to express a truth in an aligned place, there is such a feeling of freedom. I know the bubbling up of joy.
We need a bumper sticker that says “Invest in gratitude and your stock will go up.”
I can feel the gratitude when I breathe in and out. It’s amazing how fear and worry can constrict the breath. And when I breathe in the gratitude, it’s different; it’s more fulfilling. Thank you for sharing this space with me. Thank you for joining in today’s reading and listening and receiving. Thank you for spending time with yourselves in 15 minutes of silence. It is a powerful way to find ourselves. I hope you all have a blessed and gentle and gracious day. Thank you.