Monday, September 10, 2012

Due Gratitude

I've been a bit hostile, of late. I feel justified, but that is probably about the time to stop, and offer up some gratitude:

I am grateful for my family and my friends, who care about me deeply, who I do not get to see often enough.

I am grateful for my health, which is exceptionally good, which I was reminded about recently, and was glad to see my body healed itself without drugs of any kind, despite my whining.

I am grateful for my house and my garden, for the curious fact that I still inhabit this place, as if somehow it has not given up on me, though the direct thanks goes to my father.

I am grateful for my awareness, such as it is, which is at least wide eyed and amazed at pretty much every thing about this world.

I am grateful for my job, because it is paying the bills, because every weekday I get to see the sunrise above the Minnesota river valley, because I am drinking considerably less - and to give credit where credit is due, though I have been critical and somewhat mocking of big bank, today when our primary software was down, they kept us on 7.5 hrs, which they didn't have to, which is something...

And I am thankful for my readers. :)  

3 comments:

Martin said...

In this culture it is far too easy to forget to express gratitude - to give thanks, if you will - for that which sustains and protects, at least I find it so. Often (but not often enough, it seems), when I get wound up in the everydayness of the everyday and am feeling ground down by life and living, I come to realize that I haven't expressed gratitude to universe for being 'taken care of' for some time. When this realization occurs I do what you have done in this post and magically, within a short period of time, things just have a way of smoothing out. Could be it's nothing but an attitude shift, but whatever, it works.

Thanks for the reminder...

William Hunter Duncan said...

Martin,

Welcome.

Anonymous said...

WHD, one of the secrets to happiness and inner contentment is to cultivate a sense of gratitude for what we have and who we have within our lives.

Martin above captures it well. It may just be an attitude shift-- but the key is probably taking the focus off of ourselves and putting it on others. In the same way that a surefire cure for depression is to go do a kindness for someone else.

Glad you are in a good place.

Surly1