There are often suggestions on Facebook about gratitude and forgiveness as ways to heal our soul or make our life worthwhile. People post them in the form of quotes, sayings, and lists, mounted on backgrounds in black and white or vivid colors. I don't read all of them - no time. But now and again one jumps out at me. And so, recently after reading just such a helpful list of ideas on how to improve my attitude, I decided to try out being grateful for different or all aspects of my life.
Here's how it goes: It begins, perhaps, with voicing a complaint about one thing or another, and then I swing me into action, either saying out loud or thinking it to myself:
I am grateful for: my home, cats, Life Partner, car, work, food, garden, son, a friend, beautiful day, the ability to take walks or do yoga and meditation, colleagues, students, presentations, conferences, flowers, coffee, neighbors, weekends, summer, fall, winter, spring, Rosh Hashanah, my blogs, books, music, plants, the Wissahickon, Weavers Way Coop, Chestnut Hill, Mount Airy, Princeton, children, the still-flowering orchid, 1,620 bulbs planted for spring, movies, or notes received from students about how much I have helped them become teachers, who now know how to interact with young children ...
... so much to be thankful for it seems ... I could go on and on ...
It works! before long I am breathing in and out, and feeling peaceful, even worthwhile. It becomes like a soothing lullaby. At times I speak my list out loud as Life Partner and I are driving to do chores, take in a breakfast or evening meal out at a restaurant or local cafe. We both start laughing, allowing our intellectual cynicism to ground us in reality. And yet, it still feels comforting - a relief almost - to realize that my life is not as bad, in the grand scheme of things, as I thought it was moments before I recited my list.
Am not sure how long it will last. But for now, it helps during those moments when I start to tumble down into my learned, habitual, emotional abyss.
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