The moment I let go of it was the moment
I got more than I could handle
The moment I jumped off of it
Was the moment I touched down
–Alanis Morissette/Thank You
Recently while I was folding laundry, I listed to a Ted talk by Brother David Steindl-Rast. He was talking about the benefits of being grateful. I stopped folding laundry and started paying attention.
His theory is that it’s not being happy that makes you grateful, it’s the other way around: being grateful makes you happy. Every moment is a chance to be grateful for something, and there are thousands of moments each day in which to practice. It will make the world a better place by making us react from a sense of plenty rather than scarcity. Scarcity makes us fearful and then we react with violence.
That might be stretching things a bit, but I agree there is a lot to be said for slowing down and noticing all of those small things that make life worth living.
You can’t be grateful every moment, but if you pay attention, I bet you can be grateful for a lot more moments than you normally are. Especially if thankfulness makes you happier. It’s a lot easier to do things if they have a selfish benefit, don’t you think?
In our part of the world, when you open a spigot, water comes out of it. Every time. Hot or cold. I love water–hot or cold. Water on demand? You can be grateful for it many times a day. You can be grateful for the way it tastes when you’re thirsty. You can be grateful for that hot shower.
Brother David put stickers on the light switches at the monastery so he’d always remember to be grateful for the every day miracle of light. You might not want to do that, but you can notice it and be thankful it’s there. I love to light candles, and the warm glow as I light them always makes me happy. So, thanks for that.
In my very cushy, very soft, very easy life I have more “things” than I know what to do with. There are a lot of people who love me and who I love back. There is a lot of luxury in my life. There’s a nice warm bed. Heat. I don’t have a lot to be upset about in life, and yet somehow I still manage it. There’s a lot of physical plenty, but somehow in spite of an abundance of love I still manage to feel emotionally bereft much of the time. My reactions to people are…excessive…in both good and bad ways. I imagine all sorts of horrible things that people might think or not think because of something I’ve said or not said or said badly. Less and less, but still. Still.
If I spent more time thinking of things that I can be grateful for, perhaps that would leave less time for my brain to borrow trouble. Or would having a mind that’s more still make me think less overall. Bah. No, it wouldn’t. I know this.
I am very thankful for everything, but just maybe I can be more thankful of the smaller things that I run into several times a day. Even if it doesn’t have an immediate benefit to me.
It couldn’t hurt.
After that, I can tackle kindness. That’ll be fun.
I’ll start with these few things…
The way coffee smells
Having food in the pantry
Blue skies in the Winter
Mud puddles reflecting the sun
Trees starting to bloom
Family
Co-workers
A job
Boozes
Tattoos and the friends who go and get them with you
Music and the friends who sing along
