Most days as I go to bed, in the dark, I go through my routines then review the day past. I look at what I did or did not do very well and review what I could have done better. This is like a mental play over the facts of life and internal resolutions. I store in my mind the things that I consider lacking in my participation, my remarks, or my response. I try to see the good of what often comes my way and see the reason behind what has been. For instance, an article sent to me by a dear friend who holds a very different view of the world and is contrary to my beliefs. I started to think of why she sent it to me and came to the conclusion that she wanted me to have similar thoughts to hers; and she cares. How could I get upset?
Our life is full of little and big events that show us the way to growth and also to help us pay attention to the intention behind each action. Ours and others. I have been focusing for a while to the importance of gratitude. I wake up each day (so far), take breakfast to my dining room, eat then focus on what I could be grateful about. And there are plenty of things starting with the fact that I am alive, breathing, creating, writing, moving and reflecting; many things to be immensely grateful for each day. Not mentioning loving and being loved.
Gratitude I believe is the key to a sense of well being and a feeling of great abundance and peace. I keep a small little book that I was given that has a beige real cork cover and write in it some of the things for which I feel most grateful. Often it is simply that I am grateful for being alive and sometimes it is for my daughter having called me or a note from my grandchildren, friends or my sister, or snow when we need so much moisture here or my husband who gave me a great shoulder massage that I badly needed. Life brings us so much joy if we are able to receive it or simply pay attention. And we do not need to travel to the end of the world to find its rewards.
My husband and I went last week to a park here in the black forest covered with light snow in parts. We both walked in the quiet of the forest and I observed all kinds of life in the middle of winter down at the ground level. Besides the carpet of pine needles, there was lichen, little trees making their long journey to the top of the canopy and sometimes paw prints of some animals that dwell there. I came home with such a good feeling having breathed the outdoor air mingling with the smell of the pine trees above me. The feeling of having been close to the mystery of nature and life.
Was I grateful? I was elated and the feeling still is with me. So I try to make room for a bit of gratitude in my days and enjoy the abundant results. I could focus on what is missing but I choose to focus on what is there in front of me and that is gratitude.
Try it, it will change your outlook on living.
Copyright 2013 Micheline Brierre
