Verbally Grateful

I end this day with gratitude.

It didn’t start that way. Instead of opening my eyes and thanking God for another day, I cursed that it was later than I had anticipated and jumped out of bed. I’m trying to finalize two drafts of short texts – monographs – related to my work, and I’m blocked and just can’t seem to add the final words, make the last edits, finish. It’s making me nuts, and I was avoiding it by literally putting my head under the covers.

But the day progressed, as it always does, and at around six I decided to change venue and move into the kitchen. I opened the blinds in time to see a redheaded woodpecker on the neighbor's house. It was vivid crimson and really lovely with its white and black body. For these close encounters with nature I am truly grateful and for the home that offers the view of the birds, turtles, snakes, rabbits, and dragonflies.

And as I sit here and look out into the backyard and across the pond, I realize that the entire day (aside from kick-off) has been filled with gratitude.

I reached out and thanked a stranger for her continued creative inspiration (again thanks Teesha), and I visited the thxthxthx blog to see to whom or what Leah was expressing appreciation. I was grateful to discover some new authors and smiled as I jotted their names and their books into the April 1^st Project. I was also appreciative of the images and ideas that a spin around the web produced. And, in the end I was inspired to work on my monographs. A true blessing.

As I’ve mentioned in a prior post, I keep a gratitude journal in which I count my blessings each day. Today just seemed like a good day to be publicly thankful, to really wear my appreciation for life – my life – and the ability to create it each and every moment. The struggles that cause me to curse never equal the power of the miracles that spring from awareness and gratitude. Life is so much more rich when you enumerate your assets – a really comfortable blanket, organic strawberries, a good book, a caring and supportive husband, my health.

When I read Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project, one of the many take-aways was that she realized that she should be grateful for the things she didn’t have as much as for the things she had. Meaning, grateful that she didn’t have cancer, that she didn’t have financial problems, etc. Ever since I read her book, I keep this in the front of my mind and at the top of my list. I don’t suffer what many do, and I realize how fortunate I am.

As dusk pushes the sun below the horizon to make way for night, I will take the advice of Gladys Brown Stern and verbally count my blessings. It's going to take a while.

Reflect and Renew

As the year comes to a close, it’s time to reflect and to renew.

I find that the best way to look back is to do so with gratitude, being mindful of and thankful for all of the goodness that I have enjoyed. I am blessed with an abundance of deep and lasting friendships, and it is through those that many of my joys have been experienced. I am blessed that my professional life has yielded success in many ways, but the most valuable have been the relationships and bonds that have transformed a business connection into a personal friendship. I give thanks for all the love and support that I receive, for the heart that has been connected to mine for so many years, and for the ability to give and share joy, a warm smile, and a good laugh.

Simple things are great when viewed through the lense of gladness. The turtles laying their eggs earlier in the year, the eagles over the pond, the frog symphony outside the back of the house. The fun cooking class with neighbors, time perusing Food & Wine, Gourmet, and Bon Appetit, and dirtying my hands, the kitchen, and a lot of plates. I’m thankful for time to read (presently am enjoying the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith), time to write, good music (love that iPod), and moments of silence. This year, I particularly enjoyed the Houston Grand Opera’s Cavalleria Rusticana and  Rigoletto, the Alley’s Eurydice and Gruesome Playground Injuries, the Menil’s exihibit of Joaquin Torres-Garcia (not too late to see this great work, ends January 3), and countless other visual arts and performances. I have enjoyed my involvement with the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, enjoy my friendship with Alecia, and continue to be absolutely thrilled when I see them perform. I enjoyed my weeks of Looking at Art with a girlfriend as it gave us time to have a bite and catch up each week for a period – a true gift in the midst of busy lives and coordinated schedules. And there is so much more; these are but a sampling of my blessings.

In November, we kept a basket shaped as a cornucopia on the kitchen counter, a Post-It pad and a pen alongside. From the first until Thanksgiving, we became more attentive to those things for which we were/are grateful, and we wrote them down as they came to us, folded our notes, and deposited them into the basket. On Thanksgiving Day, we unfolded and read each one. From the big ideas to the small things, our gratitude overflowed.

I watched a podcast some months back that featured Oprah interviewing Sarah Ban Breathnach, the author of Simple Abundance, a book that I have not read or picked up – yet. I enjoyed the dialogue between these two women, and the focus was on gratitude. Sarah urged the keeping of a gratitude journal and the practice of writing in it daily. I did not adopt the journal then, but I have now. And I begin 2010 with a lovely journal that will spill over with kindness, goodwill, modest pleasures, and some extravagances. Life is so rich. My life is so very rich. For that I am tremendously grateful.

And it is because of this that I also take time now to renew – renew the commitments that I’ve made to myself, renew my aspirations, renew the strategy that I have for my life and my work. I make renewed commitments instead of resolutions because the word “resolution” seems to have finality to it. A beginning and an end, a resolved issue, a goal attained. Life is an ongoing process, a journey that will take you down a number of paths, each contributing to who you are and how you see the world. I renew, make adjustments as I feel are needed, and continue into the new year with boldness and an open and glad heart.

Wishing you daily moments of joy and the time to reflect. And I hope that 2010 renews your spirit and fills your heart. Happy New Year!