I can’t help it. I am so grateful that it’s Friday I can hardly stand it. I don’t mean to be a broken record about it, but these days I am ready to collapse when I get home on Friday evenings. Tonight is no exception. Still, I am grateful for many blessings in my life today. Sometimes when I become aware of them, when I turn to look at them I find them overwhelming; and yet they remain among the simplest, most basic of blessings. Everyone should enjoy these blessings, yet I am all too aware that there are so many people in this world who do not have much of what I have in abundance. I want to take a few moments this evening to recount them yet again.
I am grateful that I have so many people in my life who love me. I have family members who love me: my children, siblings, nieces and nephews, even cousins and extended family. I cannot imagine my life without them and yet I know people who’ve had no meaningful connection with various members of their family. I can’t say that I know anyone who is totally alone in the world–that is they have no living family or close connections to anyone really. I believe that we humans are hardwired to seek connection; we thrive with it and are diminished without it. When you’re from a relatively large family, you’re born into a tribe, have a ready made team, are connected to people who have your back. I am grateful beyond measure for my family, and the same goes for my friends.
I have been fortunate throughout much of my life to have a least one or two good friends. Like many somewhat shy introverts (yes, there are some introverts who are not shy), I have a few close friendships rather than numerous casual friendships. Throughout the major eras of my life I’ve been graced with a few individuals who were like family in terms of how close we were. Some are friends to this day; others I’ve kept in poor contact with and have lost track of (in spite of efforts to track them down on social media…) I am likewise grateful for the work colleagues who became friends. It can be dicey to befriend people at work, depending on how closely you work with them. I imagine that at times lines can get kind of blurry when you become friends and hang out with people with whom you work closely. Still, I am grateful for the friend/colleagues who are still part of my life. Again, some I’ve lost track of but know with a fair degree of certainty that if we connected again today, we’d pick right up where we left of. Most of my work friends have that level of easygoing ways of relating that would make reconnecting a smooth proposition.
I’m grateful to be engaged meaningful work. Having gone through a tough period of un- and underemployment, I’m glad to be working period and doubly grateful to be doing work that I feel good about working with terrific people whose wellbeing I care about as much as I do their professional “output.” The work itself can at times be challenging and frustrating, but the overall value of what I do and the benefit it provides to others at various levels is very gratifying. I could be working someplace else, potentially making a lot more money, but satisfaction at work has to do with a lot more than money. I’ve seen enough highly paid people who deeply dislike what they’re doing, don’t have respect for the people the work for and with, and overall are completely misaligned with work that really resonates with their interests and skill sets. For the most part I am well suited to the work I am doing and am grateful for where I am in this moment. That is a very good thing.
I am grateful to be relatively able bodied. I experience the regular types of aches and pains that come along with a body that is 50-plus years old, but remain relatively healthy as best I can tell. I get irritated when something periodically goes a little out of whack, but I am so aware of how fortunate I have been to have remained healthy and without serious health issues. This too is something I recognize as a significant blessing.
There are so many other things I could write about this evening that I am so grateful for, including the basic comforts of food, shelter, and clothing. I will wrap up this evening knowing that for everything I wrote about there are dozens more things I could have. They will have to wait for another day. Tonight I will take it easy, get some rest and wake up tomorrow morning with the new possibilities of a new day. May all being be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. May we all know peace and happiness and the fruits thereof. So be it!
