Lessons in Gratitude Day 466

I am so grateful for the people in my life–family, friends, acquaintances, past loves, and even antagonists and nemeses. All have served a vital role in my life, in my growth and development, in the emergence of who I am at this hour of this day. The people around us make us better, make us stronger, give us life. I have been thinking about this a lot lately, both when I encounter the good and wonderful things that people have been to and done for me, as well as those who have treated me badly, been unfair or dishonest, or simply neglected me. If I can recognize these various people as the gifts they are, I will be that much farther ahead and will have gained a depth of understanding that fosters an even greater sense of appreciation for the beings with whom I am in community on this planet.

Case in point: yesterday I wrote about two separate issues I dealt with that caused me some emotional discomfort (from which I have subsequently moved on.) Almost as soon as I posted the blog, I heard from my daughter checking in to make sure that I was okay–I guess I sounded more upset than I actually was. At least by the time I was writing the blog I had recovered a sense of equanimity about what had happened. Then this morning first thing my brother texted me also asking me if I was okay. I have an announcement: I am okay! I had thought that perhaps the tenor of the blog itself would indicate that, yes, icky things happen sometimes, but we learn from them and they can strengthen us if we let them. It is the difficulties and our ability to bounce back from them that I was expressing gratitude for last night. Today I am grateful for those folks who wanted to check in on me to make sure I was alright.

I am also grateful for those of you who read this blog. Whether you read faithfully every day, or simply peek in periodically, I am touched and gratified by those of you who read and comment back to me periodically. Today I had a message from an old childhood friend who had been reading my blog aloud to her mother, who is in the hospital recovering from an unexpected illness. Her mother, who essentially watched me grow up, commented  positively about the blog and appreciated what I had written. But apparently, unbeknownst to them, a member of the janitorial staff of the hospital had been cleaning the room and listening to my friend read the blog. “I wasn’t aware that the cleaning woman was in the room, she stopped working and listened,” my friend reported to me. “She, (the cleaning woman), had tears running down her face and asked what was I was reading? So, your lessons are being read and enjoyed by many.”

Often we do not know the impact we–our words, our actions, our very presence–has on the people around us. Sometimes I write and post this blog without any knowledge of who’s “out there” reading these words and what the impact of these reflections are on others. Some days I feel like I can’t string two coherent sentences together and I hope people reading it can derive some benefit from it. And when I think what I’ve posted is introspective navel gazing on my part, I will hear from someone about something they appreciated in that particular post. I continue to be inspired, uplifted, and motivated by the possibility that something I’ve written gives a reader pause to contemplate, celebrate, and appreciate the many blessings we have in our lives, for the beauty that’s all around us, for the calm in the midst of the storms. I am grateful to be touched by people and be able to touch and inspire them in return. For me that is the gift and the blessing.

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