Another long day spent in concentration, focus and thinking, interspersed with long minutes of waiting for the next part of the proceedings to occur. And in those waiting in between times I spent time reading a book about the science of gratitude. It’s all rather interesting reading about the health benefits of being grateful. I’m only a few chapters in so I don’t have the full grasp of where the whole book is going to take me, but it’s always nice to learn that one is on the “right” track with something. And when it comes to the practice of gratitude, there are few to no downsides. So that’s all good.
I can hardly keep my eyes open and it’s only 9 pm. here on the “left coast.” I have to go out to pick my son up from work after 11 p.m. So I have a while to wait yet. I am grateful to have the modicum of energy that I do have. It is just enough sometimes to be able to share. I’ve expended a good deal of energy lately helping to keep a friend’s spirits up who is going through a hard time. It’s difficult to watch someone you love struggle, particularly if there’s little you can actually do about their situation. Sometimes the best you can do is offer as much support as you can and keep them encouraged, even if that means you use up all your energy in the process. So I try to refuel as best I can so that I have something left in the tank for all of us. It’s kind of like those instructions they give you on the airplane when they say put on your own oxygen mask first before assisting anyone else: I’ve got to make sure I have energy for myself if I hope to be any good to anyone else. I am grateful that though my reserves have gotten a bit depleted, they’re not exhausted yet. I am strategizing on how to re-energize myself when the current crisis conditions have passed and life resumes with some degree of relative calm.
I am grateful as always for some very basic things: family and friends who love me; a love of reading and learning and the opportunity and ability to do both; physical ability that allows me to move at will and with little or no pain or difficulty, and so much more. I am grateful to have a spiritual belief system that I have been able to fall back on from time to time when things have felt particularly difficult. I am grateful for routine activities that keep me grounded: my morning journal writing and my evening blog, even my “haiku a day for May” helps give me an anchor that keeps me connected to the here and now. These are things I will continue to appreciate having as part of the richness of my life. There are many, many things for which I am grateful. May I continue to be so. What are you grateful for this evening?
