(Thanksgiving is the poet’s favorite celebration of our year, and gratitude her favorite feeling. She offers, this holiday week, some selections in the theme of the season)
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Recorded Reading: https://www.dropbox.com/s/x79y3weain3u9lv/The%20Purpose%20of%20a%20Practice%20in%20Gratitude.mp3?dl=0
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The Purpose of a Practice in Gratitude
“Meh,” we say to ourselves, “spending time listing things for which I’m grateful sounds kind of Pollyanna to me.
“Kinda New Age-y, kinda woo-woo.
“I’d have to end up listing the same things over and over.
“I mean, okay, I’ve got two good hands, my eyes work, blah, blah, blah ~ How many times are we supposed to be thankful for that? Every day?
“How boring would that be?
“No ~ I’m not really seeing a benefit for my time invested.
“Think I’ll give it a miss.”
(“Think I’ll go watch TV.
“The same programs I always watch, every day.
“They’re full of lies, problems and ~ you know ~ interesting stuff.
“Or I could hang out on social media.
“Like I do every day.
“That’s full of lies too ~ but nobody’s got any problems!
“Um, except me.
“So I’ll go over my own problems.
“Again.
“Same as I do every day.
“Many times a day, actually.
“All the people I hate, all the stuff I hate about myself, all the stuff I hate to have to do before I get back to…
“Watching TV…
“Like I do every day…”)
In the world of Buddhist wisdom, it is said that we do not tend to perceive the motion of a clearly and smoothly running stream of water until we have put a stick or some other obstacle into its path, creating ripples for us to see, where it meets that resistance.
Then we tend to complain about those ripples.
How much better to be attuned to noticing and appreciating the stream whilst yet undisturbed by our habituated need for ripples!
… If, say, we walked along it thinking, by habit:
“Isn’t this stream a perfect, peaceful home for all stream dwelling species, both animal and plant, flowing gently along like this, with the glints of sunlight on its surface?
“And I can tell by those artistically scattered leaves on its surface that it’s moving along quite quickly, too…”
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This poet is physically disabled. Public housing being insufficient to her medical and creative needs, she is presently living, in order to continue working, in her minivan, at an income of a fraction of her nation’s poverty level. She would treasure any donation you might care to offer ~ http://www.UgiftABLE.com ● #72D-31S
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Troubador of Verse 