{"id":4373,"date":"2014-03-17T05:00:15","date_gmt":"2014-03-17T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellejolin.com\/wordpress\/?p=4373"},"modified":"2014-03-16T21:33:29","modified_gmt":"2014-03-17T04:33:29","slug":"on-gratitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=4373","title":{"rendered":"On gratitude"},"content":{"rendered":"

The moment I let go of it was the moment
\nI got more than I could handle
\nThe moment I jumped off of it
\nWas the moment I touched down
\n–Alanis Morissette\/Thank You<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Recently while I was folding laundry, I listed to a Ted talk by Brother David Steindl-Rast.<\/a> He was talking about the benefits of being grateful. I stopped folding laundry and started paying attention.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It couldn’t hurt.<\/p>\n

After that, I can tackle kindness. That’ll be fun.<\/p>\n

I’ll start with these few things…
\nThe way coffee smells
\nHaving food in the pantry
\nBlue skies in the Winter
\nMud puddles reflecting the sun
\nTrees starting to bloom
\nFamily
\nCo-workers
\nA job
\nBoozes
\nTattoos and the friends who go and get them with you
\nMusic and the friends who sing along<\/p>\n

\"20140311-213747.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"20140311-213815.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"20140311-213946.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"20140311-214100.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"20140311-214147.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"20140316-105136.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading On gratitude<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"On gratitude http:\/\/wp.me\/p4FR8-18x","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/20140316-105136.jpg?fit=225%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lr3R-18x","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5257,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=5257","url_meta":{"origin":4373,"position":0},"title":"Movie dream","author":"Michelle","date":"April 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In the dream, they were in an enormous crowded place. Like a mall. They bought tickets to a movie, then he asked her to wait for him for a few minutes. She waited. She searched for him with her eyes. She sent him text messages. He never came back. She\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10666,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=10666","url_meta":{"origin":4373,"position":1},"title":"Birthdays and gratitude","author":"Michelle","date":"November 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"My love of birthdays is no secret to anyone. I love birthdays\u00a0and every year I talk about mine more than is really decent for a woman of my age. Birthdays make me happy. Maybe it's just because I like being the center of attention for a few days...or, uh, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Random thoughts"","block_context":{"text":"Random thoughts","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=20"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10257,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=10257","url_meta":{"origin":4373,"position":2},"title":"Reasons to be grateful, list 4,982","author":"Michelle","date":"June 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"..when you are grateful, you are happy. --Thich Nhat Hanh Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude. --A.A. Milne\/Winnie-the-Pooh Family Friends Fireworks Faith Fruit Firefly Fireflies France Fantasy Fantasmagoria Ferrari Farms Flowers Flowing water Felines Fun Football\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Random thoughts"","block_context":{"text":"Random thoughts","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=20"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11714,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=11714","url_meta":{"origin":4373,"position":3},"title":"A thank you to life, the universe and everything…and good-bye","author":"Michelle","date":"November 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"It is no secret that a woman in want of a job must be patient, persistent, and full of self confidence.\u00a0 I have definitely been a woman in want of a job, though barring the successful completion of a criminal background check, I'll be starting a shiny new job in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Random thoughts"","block_context":{"text":"Random thoughts","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=20"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10352,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=10352","url_meta":{"origin":4373,"position":4},"title":"A tradition of gratitude","author":"Michelle","date":"July 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the things I have been working at in the last few years is cultivating a attitude of appreciation.\u00a0 Part of that has been making lists. 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