Living in Gratitude

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"Love the life you have..." --Ethan Hawke "Ash Wednesday"

This is so easy to say, and so hard to do. With all of the messages out there telling us the things we could do or could see or could be or could buy, it is almost impossible to love the life you have fully, completely and right now.

But that doesn't mean it isn't worth trying. And I think gratitude practice is one of the best ways. Which is not to say that stuff isn't coming up for me this month.

Today while reading the paper I started to feel the consumer beast stirring within: Maybe I should go to that play. Maybe I should see that exhibit. Maybe I should read that book.

My mind became greedy for more, More, MORE! Until I finally put the paper down and focused on what I was grateful for right here, right now.

Here is what I came up with:

1) A hot cup of tea with milk.

2) A few hours of free time with nothing on the calendar.

3) A bus ride. While riding the bus to jury duty yesterday, I was flooded with memories of riding the city bus to school every day in junior high and high school when we lived in Baltimore. It was always crowded and it was often crazy, but my friends and I had a lot of great talks and a lot of great laughs on those long rides to school and back.

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