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Gratefulness
My goal is to be a whole lot more like my dogs, able to live in the moment and just be grateful.
A couple of my dear friends love to receive mail but struggle to write back due to hand tremors or arthritis. One is going through a tough time and welcomes the support and encouragement. The other has lost a good deal of her hearing and is not interacting as much as she used to in groups, so the letters are a way of having conversation together that would be impossible via phone.
We have gotten so used to technical forms of communication with their layers of distance that we often fo...
We have gotten so used to technical forms of communication with their layers of distance that we often forget the power that our hearts poured through the mediums of ink and paper can have.
Allow myself to be how I am, where I am. Celebrate what I can now do that I couldn’t a year ago rather than being as frustrated as I have been for what I think I ought to be doing now but cannot yet handle.
And I can listen up because variations on this theme have been flying at me today!
Well, by Being, first of all, just be being. The amazing thing is that our presence here is necessary in some way we may never understand. Why us? Why now? But there is a reason, and our contribution likely will reach far beyond us. We are specific, unique, essential strands in the web helping support the whole, even when we cannot see any other strands but those close to us.
By holding to my own gratitude practice openly and kindly, but without apology. Sometimes people can think you are nuts for choosing gratitude in the midst of obvious suffering, but that’s just when the opportunity arises. Gratitude is not PollyAnna platitudes and wishful thinking, it is HARD work sometimes! Being real and vulnerable enough to let that be seen in you is a powerful teaching on the power of gratitude.
I can add nothing to what everyone else has said, and I am grateful there are so many voices saying essentially the same thing. It gives more hope for our world!
Open myself up to peace, even in the midst of challenges, as well as looking back at all the ways I have been carried through before, despite my best squirmings to “make” something happen, and trusting that I will be again.
Yes, and what it says every time you read it is, “Someone Cares.” And that is a beautiful message!
Amen! A little encouragement in such a situation means more than the sender can possibly realize unless they, too, have walked in those shoes.
Thank you, Palm. Yes, I am much more patient with others than with myself! I am learning, though, that this radical self-care and self-compassion are the key to so very much!
Have you tried acupuncture? I used to have horrible headaches all the time, some for days on end. Acupuncture got me to where I rarely have a headache at all now.
I second Trevor with the qi gong. I use the Qi Gong For Stress Relief dvd by Francesco Garry Garripoli and Daisy Lee Garripoli. Very relaxing. It has become my favorite.
When you are going through especially a long haul kind of illness, such thoughtfulness means more than you might realize. Being sick for a long time takes you out of the loop of the life around you, and it is easy to get lost in the shuffle. That’s just how it is because life requires interaction, and sickness sometimes precludes that. Receiving a card in the mail can really lift your spirits!
OH, yes, Palm! I, too, have to do periodic check ins with my husband or another person, a long term trusted friend. I am so prone to see everything I do or don’t do in a negative light, especially while still slowly recovering. I’ve been a bit down on myself lately thinking I really need to be doing more faster than is possible. Having the courage to ask my husband or the friend for a perspective check helps breathe the relief of truth across the fog of failure so the sun can come...
OH, yes, Palm! I, too, have to do periodic check ins with my husband or another person, a long term trusted friend. I am so prone to see everything I do or don’t do in a negative light, especially while still slowly recovering. I’ve been a bit down on myself lately thinking I really need to be doing more faster than is possible. Having the courage to ask my husband or the friend for a perspective check helps breathe the relief of truth across the fog of failure so the sun can come out again. ????
Yep. And we also tend to magnify our perceived missteps into personal failures when we would barely take note of the same in someone else.
My stupid moments are easier for me since the really stupid ones are often quite funny! I can then have a chuckle at myself and move on.
Amen
Those are the Four Important Things, right? From the book by Ira Blyock?
Love the last paragraph, Kevin. I think that accomplishes far more than we could ever imagine, as if we ourselves were the loaves and the fishes being multiplied to feed the world in myriad ways.
That is one of life’s paradoxes, really, that just when life is hardest and hurts most and gratefulness is not high on our list of needs, it is a very powerful way to work our way through the hurt to a better place and thus, in reality, definitely in the Top 5 need wise. It is amazing how being grateful for what we have helps us through the not having and helps us think creatively about the needs in our lives. That only works when the heart inclines in that direction, though, and that c...
That is one of life’s paradoxes, really, that just when life is hardest and hurts most and gratefulness is not high on our list of needs, it is a very powerful way to work our way through the hurt to a better place and thus, in reality, definitely in the Top 5 need wise. It is amazing how being grateful for what we have helps us through the not having and helps us think creatively about the needs in our lives. That only works when the heart inclines in that direction, though, and that can be rare indeed.
I love the kindness of your heart, Pilgrim. You bless my life.
Yes, finding the hidden gifts in our pain without denying or diminishing it and somehow choosing gratitude are definitely the way forward! ????
Amen!
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