I am grateful for breathing...who isn't? But because I can breathe, I can take a deep breath now and then and start again. Try it. Stop what you are doing, sit comfortably, close your eyes and take in a deep breath. Hold it while you cound to five or ten and then release it completely. This is when you should feel it. It is like a new start, fresh. Somehow whatever was troubling me or stressing me out, seems not so overwhelming. It is like a new start. A rebirth. A deep breath can restore resolve, peace of mind, calm. Try it now and then. I think you will find you are grateful to breathe (of course) and for every deep breath you take.
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Day Fourteen. Half way. I guess I could say I am grateful for that. Sometimes it is a bit difficult coming up with something that I am grateful for that seems worth writing about and sharing with you. I want what I write to be inspiring. Other times I want it to be funny. There are times when I want what I share to be challenging. Serious is good. Gratitude should have gravitas. It should also have a lesson. Well, at least that is what I think sometimes when I sit down to my computer and start typing. One thing that this exercise has done is to get me into thinking more often about the things I am grateful for. But I guess I covered that when I wrote about be mindful. I have given thanks for the usual, but not written about them. That I think will come. There is so much to be thankful for. I do look at things very differently these days. For instance, when I am fixing something to eat for lunch or dinner, I usually turn on the TV for the news. Currently there are stories about the fight over healthcare, the typhoon in the Phillipines, sex scandals in the government (and everywhere else it seems), and such. I think how very lucky I am to be in a safe, warm house with access to food and water and a place to sleep each night. I am so very fortunate. And I think I am taking these things less for granted these days. For that, I am grateful. 11/13/2013 0 Comments 28 Days of Gratitude: Day 13 - ChaosChaos? Grateful for chaos? Yep, that's what I'm sayin'. I am grateful for chaos....not all the time...but once in a while. Every once in a while the carpet needs to be pulled from under us. Not to necessarily knock us down, but to shake us up...to shake us out of our complacency. Chaos makes us think...well, I know it makes me think. It is unsettling old ideas and beliefs that results in a sort of chaos of the spirit. Chaos. It can be a blessing in disguise. I can remember times I was feeling rather smug, times when I thought I had it all figured out. Then reality set it and I was plunged into the chaos of confusion and uncertainly. It was the best thing that could have happened...each time it has happened. And I expect it may happen again...although I like to think I have learned from it...at least enough to know that I don't know everything. It fact the only thing I do know for absolute fact is, well, nothing is absolute or sure. That is what living through chaos has done. And for that, I am grateful. A young friend posted on Facebook this morning that she hates life and for someone to f*** off. I was astonished as this was one young lady I thought pretty much had it together. I have no idea what prompted this statement, but I do know I have felt that way. Coming for the other end of the age spectrum, I could only comment, "ooh. hands folded. experience has told me it does get better." Not probably what she wanted to hear right then. But what I hoped it communicated was, yes, it does suck once in a while. But it really does get better....better with experience. Life does go on. It does drain you of every ounce of vital life energy you have sometimes, but, if you push through, it does get better. Really. If nothing else, experience has taught me that. Here is why I am grateful for experience. It has taught me that nothing lasts forever, not pain, not joy, not anger, not even passion. What these things do, however, is morph into something else. It is often called experience, but what it really is, is you. You are your experiences. Experience informs what you do everyday, every moment. Without experience, we would be pure stimulus and response running around in a world that is nothing more than a flash in the pan. We learn from our experiences. And if we don't, well, we get to experience them again until one day we look up and realize that we are the sum total of our experiences and how we handle them. It is up to us every day to interpret what life hands us to grow and to move on. That is why we form relationships, participate in daily activities and reflect and dream. It is up to us. But we are not alone. So I say be grateful for whatever comes your way. It is a lesson, whether it be pleasant or unpleasant, but it is yous to learn. And let experience be the teacher it was meant to be. Today was Veteran's Day. It is the day when military veterans are honored for their service in the armed forces of the United States. I truly join with all those who express their sincere gratitude for the committment and sacrifices these men and women made on behalf of their country. They indeed did not "ask what their country could do for them, but what they could do for their country." (Paraphrasing of the famous quote of JFK during his inaugaural speech, 1961). They were in service to their country and their fellow countrymen. As were their families, their spouses and their friends, teachers, and so one. In that regard, we are all veterans in a way. We all lived the wars and conflicts of our time. We all were shaped and sometimes scarred by the experience. But none so much as those who donned the uniforms. And as I was not one of them, I salute them and on this Veterans' 11/10/2013 2 Comments 28 Days of Gratitude: Day Ten - MoreAs I enter day ten of consciously and mindfully giving thanks for all that makes my life worth living, I find myself at times overwhelmed with all that I have been blessed. And then I find myself scratching around to narrow it down to just one thing for this blog. Do I give thanks for this bright and beautiful Sunday morning while thousands try to survive the havoc of the typhoon in the Phillipines? Do I give thanks for the English muffin, raisin bran with almond milk and sliced banana while scores sleep in the streets near my comfortable and secure home? Do I express my undying gratitude for the sweet little animal companions that make my life so much richer just by being faithful and true to me whle thousands of abandoned and abused animals lanquish in overcrowded shelters across the world? The list goes on. More. There is always more. And I am grateful, ever so humbly grateful, for the more in my life and I hope I find ways to share the more with those with less. That, my friends, is the challenge. How do not lapse into smugness over the fact that I am indeed very very fortunate? I do I surrend everything to follow in the footsteps of someone like Jesus or the Buddha or Mohammed? That is probably not me. I like to think my life is one of sharing....sharing more....all the more that I have been entrusted with. That is why today, I am thankful for the more in my life. Thanks goodness for intuition. If only we would listen to it and act on what that little voice tells us. We usually know the answer. It comes to us in a quiet, yet persistent voice that wants to guide us in the direction best for us to head. Yet so often, we tend to ignore it. We suppress what our intuition tells us is the correct answer for us. So along with mindfulness (see Day Eight) I am thankful for intuition. And I am thankful it still speaks to me no matter how many times over my lifetime I ignored it, suppressed it and in general, doubted its voracity. I do know the answer. I just need to trust my intuition. And that is an ongoing process that someday, my intution tells me, I will Since beginning this blog about gratitude leading up to my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving, I have found myself constantly thinking of things that I am grateful for. The things I am grateful for swirl in my head throughout the day. And if I am able, I jot down a note or create a draft of what I want to say about those things that occur to me to give thanks for. So today I am grateful for this opportunity, but more so, I am grateful for the mindfulness this blog has brought to me. I am constantly thinking about it and giving thanks right there and then, in the moment. "Mindfulness" I call it. Being in the now. Communing with God or Spirit or Jesus or that Power that is greater than ourselves that somehow manifested itself as us and continues to express itself as us, in us and through us. That is what practicing being mindful does. Reminding ourselves that we are part of something greater than ourselves. We a grains of sand that make up the universal beach. We are drops of water that make up the universal ocean. We are part but not apart from the whole. For that, I am grateful. It makes life so much more meaningful and a lot less lonely. I love the alphabet. I love A's and B's and C's. I am entranced by the letters Q and R and G and K. And of course I admire and respect D, E, F, H, I, J, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U, V, W, X and Z. And sometimes Y. Y is quite a lovely letter. I love it sometime angularity and sometime graceful curves with little curly-cues on its tail. I love how it can be written fully above the line when capitalized or dip below the line in cursive script. And the little y is delightfully playful to me. But why would I say "....and sometimes y"? Think about it. Remember way back in grammar school (or primary school, elementary, lower school, or whatever they call it these days) when you were learning your vowels? They were A E I O U and sometimes Y. Y is quite a versatile letter. Why, (another form of "y"?), Y even speaks spanish, meaning "and" as in Juan y Juanita! You can come to a Y in the road, also known as a fork. It can stand for yeild. Y not? I have to say that I am grateful for the alphabet, and sometimes Y. It is a marvelous creation that helps us communicate. It is fun to write the letters. It can be an artistic endeavor. Calligraphy comes to mind. I am not sure why we restricted ourselves to just 26 letters. Here are two sentences that contain all the letters of the alphabet. They are called "panagrams"
A more comprehensive history of the alphabet can be found here: http://www.ancient.eu.com/alphabet/ Today I am grateful for Y and for ALL the letters of the alphabet, A through Z. |
AuthorRob McMurray, self described muser extraodinaire. ArchivesCategoriesAll All Saints Day Alphabet Artist Artistic Awareness Chaos Color Color Meaning Communication Tools Convenience Evolving Experience Faith Friendship Grace Grammar Gratitude Growth Inspiration Interpretation Intuition Invention Joy Of Life Letters Meaning Personal Conviction Personal Power Power Religion Remembering Strength Thanksgiving Writing |