Is There Anything Else?

My gratitude practice has been foundational for changing the wiring in my brain. I started a journal a number of years back. I don’t go around saying I’m grateful for this or that, pronouncing, out loud, all the good that is happening. It’s not so surface. It’s more an embodiment of the things I love or the things I have not loved but have been used for good results despite the discomfort or imposition. 

Gratitude redefines my reality and how I judge the unknown. The ups and downs are not so severe. It beckons me to stay in the moment, which I often do without having to give a lot of thought. It changes the focus away from the past and future. It eases the anxiety and softens the sadness.

I no longer keep a daily journal, it’s just part of my heart, but I am not opposed to starting it back up if I need a realignment.

Today I am grateful for hearing loss because it gives me some understanding and adds to compassion for those who have trouble communicating, for whatever reason. I am certainly grateful to live in a time and a place that I have some access to meaningful and life changing healthcare. And also for the ability to pay for that. I am reminded that it is not a given. 

Finally, I am grateful for my heart, which told me that it was not appreciating the way I was living, and instilled within me a deep desire for something more. 

Life just keeps getting better. 

Comments

  1. Debra She Who SeeksAugust 5, 2023 at 9:20 AM

    Great post! I like everything you said about the value of gratitude!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marie SmithAugust 5, 2023 at 9:27 AM

    I so agree. I went through a rough patch and started a gratitude journal. I found it just the other day. I carry gratitude in my heart and mind since then though I don’t write it any more. I will again though if I need to be reminded!

    Great post!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

What do you have to say about that?

Popular posts from this blog

A Journey To Home

Image
My tender hearted girl decided she wanted to foster an old lady. Selkie is 14, is nearly deaf and nearly blind, has a hard time walking and uses her bark to get her needs met.  She got her home, took her for a bath and then basically loved this old girl for three weeks until the property manager decided that it wasn’t a good match (barking too much AND because she is a pit bull).  My girl knew it was probably temporary but she gave that dog a comfortable loving home, away from the chaos of the shelter, for a short time.  Ideally, she would have walked her home but that’s not how it worked this time.  Last night she stood and ugly cried on a strangers shoulder after giving her back.  I love that girl and her sweet heart.  I wish Selkie a new final home full of love. 
Read more

Private Eye

Image
We pass by the house frequently since it sits on a busy thoroughfare. We know to look every time we pass and guess what will we see. Will it be the two Dalmatians, sitting on the couch that backs up to the giant panel window, waiting for their human to come home? Or will it be their human, sitting slightly to the right of middle (allowing for a better view of the giant mounted tv across the room) of the said couch. They are never there at the same time. It’s one or the other. One sleepless night, when my body was willing but my brain was not, I did a little sleuthing. It’s amazing what you can find out about a complete stranger.   His name is Gary and, from what I can tell, he’s never been married. He has worked his way up in a air duct company. He’s now the senior VP but it’s a small company and he still goes out on jobs, judging from  the reviews on Yelp. I know he has two siblings and that their father passed away in 2018. His memorial was held in a Buddhist temple and Gary...
Read more

Go!

Image
 Vai. E, se der medo, vai con medo mesmo. When one is raised in an angry family, it’s not enough to say I don’t want to be angry. You must learn how to do it differently. That’s no easy task. If judgment and self hatred became a way of life, a new way to live has to be taught. There are many ways to do it. Reading, writing, sharing, practicing all help the change. Counseling, psychoanalysis, religion, meditation, gratitude, have the ability to transform but I needed to see it in action, it needed to be more tangible, visual, accessible. I needed to understand the possibilities. There is a YouTube channel that I watch over and over again in order to absorb how to live more fully, more open and from the heart. One of the first episodes that I stumbled on is this…. The channel is Reflections of Life and through it we get to meet people who are doing life a little differently, often more soul based. People who are living life, healing wounds and finding what is truly important.  I...
Read more