A teacher I am working with shared with me a prayer she uses every morning. I don’t always remember to say it first thing in the morning, but when I do it interrupts my exhaustive list making tendency.
The first line of the prayer expresses gratitude that I have woken up in the morning. The word I focus on is gratitude. I am alive. Some mornings it is harder than others to wholeheartedly say this.
How do I feel gratitude when things are not to my liking? When the weather is colder than I wanted it to be? When the toaster-over burns my waffle? How can gratitude be my go-to place when the Des Moines Register’s headlines horrify me? When I remember that a good friend has to begin chemo the next day?
In a discussion I was in with my local Zen group last Saturday, I learned that if I can slow down and drop down, I can connect with the stream of gratitude that runs under all these surface distractions.
I’m still learning how to slow down and drop down. It’s not always easy.
When is it difficult for you to feel gratitude? Does the phrase ‘stream of gratitude’ speak to you in any way?
I most certainly feel immense gratitude for those of you who not only read the post but let me know!
