Today’s Word for the Day by Parker Palmer, “Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others,” is absolutely perfect for me to hold before me today. I, and members of my faith community, recently finished delivering our large, successful, annual Book Fair which has grown to be a widely popular community event. As satisfied as I am with my efforts, I’m needing to “give time-time,” to help heal four different wear-and-tear physical injuries as a consequence of my contributions.

It depends on what type of regret I am thinking about. Some regrets help to teach me, or at least reframe an action that I took so that I can consider doing it differently should there be a “next time.” Other regrets, like it or not, I just need to live with and learn to let go of over time. Blaming one self, I think, can be a close cousin to regret and serves no one well. Sometimes we need the love and attention of a person we trust to help us reframe this kind of regret so that we can actually learn from it.

It seems that we are all on our own paths and life journeys. I sometimes see the paths that others appear to be on and say to myself, “I’m glad that’s not my path!” Other times, I might envy, momentarily at least, the paths and way of life of certain people I know. But even lives that appear charmed or desirable on the outside have hidden challenges too. Besides, I have neither need or want to follow the life paths of others. I’m busy enough minding my own. I can best honor the paths of others by accepting theirs and honoring my own.

As I age and cope with the occasional physical setbacks that living a moderately active life brings about, such as chronic back pain, sciatic nerve flare-ups, back surgery (seven years ago), and eye issues, to name a few, we unceremoniously hobble our way off to the doctors, PTs, chiropractors, and the like. There, we find ourselves sitting, waiting, and chatting away with newfound comrades whose aging sack of bones have also given way to time and reality. Waiting for our turn for treatment, we compare notes, shake our heads, laugh and absorb a previously unknown measure of mutual understanding, even comfort, with people we would otherwise never have known. A strangely shaped community for sure, but it is there.

Yesterday, our Quaker Meeting in Westport, MA, completed our 61st Annual Book Fair, after a two-year pause due to the pandemic. Our event runs for eight consecutive days in which we sell over 35,000 copies of used books (including children’s books for all ages) in every category imaginable, including media, all of which gets donated to us throughout the year. Our Book Fair has become a community event as well and we’re told by knowledgeable sources that our fair is the largest of its kind in all New England.

We generate enough income over the eight day sale, which is our only fundraiser all year, to meet our annual budget as a faith community, and to provide thousands of additional dollars for supporting various social justice causes that align with the tenets of our Quaker faith. After working fifteen, ten-hour days, preparing and carrying out this event alongside many volunteers and Quaker Meeting members, I left last night bone tired, satisfied, and hugely grateful for having done my part to deliver yet another successful event. I cranked up an upbeat playlist on my iTunes for the eight mile back roads ride home, smiling, and feeling grateful for being able to do my part, to support my faith community, and to provide something of value to townspeople and book lovers throughout the region. For these eight days at least, that’s how I cultivated gratefulness.

Prayer, and people I love help to rekindle my inner light during dark days. Expressing my gratitude for it takes care of itself.

BTW: Todays Word of the Day, by Isabel Allende “We are all born happy. Life gets us dirty along the way, but we can clean it up,” is unsettling to me. It strikes me as namby-pamby and naive. Try holding this quote up before children born with crippling and disfiguring birth defects and diseases, or their parents, or try sticking this quote under the noses of the people of Ukraine as they’re dodging bombs and rocket fire falling on their homes and villages. Try telling these poor folks that they can just, “clean it up.” Seriously?

Today’s Daily Question also seems to be linked to the Word of the Day, (something I have railed about previously in this space), and if so, it turns the Today’s Daily Question into a commentary, an opinion and immediate reinterpretation of Allende’s quote, an occasional practice that I wish the folks at Gratefulness wouldn’t do. (My apologies for sounding like such a Debbie-downer so early in the morning!)