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Gratefulness
This community’s embracing and engaging on the varied nuances of life through seeing, considering, and acting inspires me.
I recall many years ago when I changed my perspective on driving during times of low visibility. I realized and shifted my perspective to focusing on what I COULD see, rather than what I could NOT – focusing on the areas of light rather than darkness. Near instantly my concerns with driving under such conditions changed – this was an early concrete lesson on the importance of perspective.
I believe much of what we ask for is ultimately provided for through a recipe, along with the required ingredients, rather than the finished product. Or potentially more like an uncut diamond that is still embedded in the surrounding rock.
Starting with something concrete, the number of steps I’ve walked in my life grows daily, and today I am endeavoring to add 100,000 to that number – expecting an interesting day. Now to the more abstract, with each passing day, I interact and engage with more and more individuals – one more on one day, 10 more on another. In the passing everyday engagements to formed relationships, my connectivity with the world grows daily. Like steps taken in a day, sometimes there are few...
Starting with something concrete, the number of steps I’ve walked in my life grows daily, and today I am endeavoring to add 100,000 to that number – expecting an interesting day. Now to the more abstract, with each passing day, I interact and engage with more and more individuals – one more on one day, 10 more on another. In the passing everyday engagements to formed relationships, my connectivity with the world grows daily. Like steps taken in a day, sometimes there are few, sometimes there are many, but there is always one.
This question reminds me of when many years ago I returned from traveling for several weeks in an impoverished area of the world, where homes were small, simple stone structures with dirt floors and minimal if any furnishings beyond a table and a few chairs. After getting back home, I walked into a grocery store, as if for the first time, amazed by all the items lining the shelves, the fresh vegetables and meats, all neatly displayed and ready to be picked up. While I am certainly not consist...
This question reminds me of when many years ago I returned from traveling for several weeks in an impoverished area of the world, where homes were small, simple stone structures with dirt floors and minimal if any furnishings beyond a table and a few chairs. After getting back home, I walked into a grocery store, as if for the first time, amazed by all the items lining the shelves, the fresh vegetables and meats, all neatly displayed and ready to be picked up. While I am certainly not consistently mindful of all the ways that I am fortunate, I suspect it is much like my taking for granted the simple blessing of being able to walk into a grocery store – so many things from which to choose. That said, after having recalled that memory will focus on the great blessing of good memories.
Indeed humbling and encouraging to consider just how many anonymous strangers from past, present, and future lift me up daily. Thank you to you collective many and I will strive to do my part.
This past few days I’ve been very curious re-learning about sound and will reflect in that context. Sound cannot travel without air. Where there is no air, there is no sound. The sound is dependent on each individual air molecule connected to others, and through this connection the deep powerful impact of sound is transmitted. Similar to air, I see each of us individuals across space and across time as being the vital medium through which that which is good or bad is transmitted. The di...
This past few days I’ve been very curious re-learning about sound and will reflect in that context. Sound cannot travel without air. Where there is no air, there is no sound. The sound is dependent on each individual air molecule connected to others, and through this connection the deep powerful impact of sound is transmitted. Similar to air, I see each of us individuals across space and across time as being the vital medium through which that which is good or bad is transmitted. The difference is we have the capacity to affect what we emanate and pass on, although we cannot avoid passing on something. Through our work, through our family, through our lineage, through “the news”, through our daily interactions, through so much of what we experience for good and for bad, indeed we are strongly connected.
I like it – great question/suggestion. Making such a pivot shifts from focusing on the problem, which doesn’t go away, to focusing on the path toward the solution. Indeed the most challenging, persistent problems often require either a new path, or a path walked further and longer than before. Curiosity for what lies further down that path may help us stay the course and more quickly or definitively solve the problem.
Since about my early 20’s I’ve kept notes on personal insights on life and living. Recently I’ve thought I should share these with my children, now 11 and 13 years old, to share a fairly good cross-section of some of my more valued thoughts. Suspect I might regret not having shared. As I’ve moved and maintained these in a digital form that is amenable to sharing, I just forwarded a link that allows them to view … OK, now back to living and engaging in today.
On a hike up a high, forested hill, at the moment I arrive at the overlook where the trees clear and I pause and appreciate the view of the land below and all around. At the end of any task where I have made a commitment and followed through.
Maximize intention, minimize excuses, cultivate strength and ground oneself through humility.
My vision in my daily work is to promote a world where people are clear-minded, connected with each other, and meaningfully contributing. One step I can take is done – to succinctly describe this vision; next is to get back to the daily work.
I wish I could say it was the sound of my morning alarm clock – maybe someday, as indeed it is a blessing to be able to wake to another day. At present, the sound of people/groups singing in unison is always energizing.
I believe it was Thoreau that said, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”. Gratefulness reminds me that I am not desperate. I live with abundance; I don’t need to protect the scarcity that I have; but can give of my abundance to that which the world needs. Unfortunately, I don’t live with such constant inspiration, but inspired often enough that I drive forward with my daily work. I am grateful that this work is grounded in Service to others.
Connection with what is eternal, what is right, what is good.
Indeed this can be challenging as “what is eternal, what is right, what is good” is not always clear, and hence is the challenge in day to day life and the related ongoing discovery process and developing the strength to maintain that connection.
The when I suppose is easier to describe than the where. When admiring the natural order, when appreciating the symphony of relationships in everyday society, when considering our historical progress marked by individual sacrifice and perseverance. Where? I suppose at the intersection of my mind’s eye and these points of connection with something greater towards which I strive to connect.
Experiencing all that I have been provided and all the greatness within individuals, the natural world, the spiritual world, the history that preceded me, all vital parts of who I am, how can I be anything but humble, while sitting with gratitude and orienting towards just doing my part. Individually humbling, but collectively and universally magnifying.
It is not what happens today, it is whether or not our expectations of ourselves and others are met or exceeded.
The first time my daughter, probably at the time 6 or 7, reached into her pocket and gave what she had to another person on the street who had less. She felt she had enough and could share with another.
Such I suppose may be an indirect benefit of realization and gratitude for what we have, we then feel able and wanting to give to another, and such I suppose is the root of a healthy community.
Indeed great things happen when we raise possibilities. Thanks for sharing!
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We are delighted to announce the release of Kristi Nelson’s book Wake Up Grateful
