Grateful for the experience of going grocery shopping, buying what we need (and a bit more) and having the self-checkout say, "approved." Grateful that our cherry tree has exploded with cherries this year, the most in the 20-plus years we've lived here. Grateful for bursts of sunlight between bouts of rain.
My older brother, son, and I picked the next years supply of sweet corn for the family. So blessed that we are still able to get out to make the gather, together we total a 184 years on this orb. Enough for our families and more than 300 ears for those aged and unable to get out there. In the field at daylight; it was smothering hot with the humidity at more than 95%; but still. I'm not the man I was 2 years ago but so gracious that i am still able to" try to get it done".
Last evening sirens suddenly sounded and we embarked to the basement, because "possible" tornadoes had been spotted, and at least one confirmed on the ground; we spent a long hour sitting down there, watching the weather nannies, and finally ventured back upstairs. Nothing reached us or even near us, but better a false alarm than no warning.
Hmm. Do you have any alarmist neighbours, GrahamLewis? I'm only asking because I immediately thought of two ways the sirens could be misinterpreted: Either 1. "Ahhhhhhh! It's the terrorists!!! Get in the bomb shelter, quick!!!" OR 2. "Ahhhhhhh! It's the Rapture!!! Quick, get into the basement before God comes!!!" Of course, you have to have a really alarmist mindset to think like that in the USA.
Rath, if you lived in the US, especially the Midwest, and had been through a couple near misses with tornadoes, and seen the havoc and destruction they can cause, and were familiar with severe weather and rolling thunder and dark gray clouds, you'd know what the sirens were for, and no one would be "alarmist" for taking shelter. In fact, five tornadoes did touch down nearby, though they missed populated areas, so no major damage was caused and no one was injured. I know you try to be funny, but sometimes I think you have no idea what you are talking about. On a somewhat lighter note, when I was kid ours was one of few houses on the block with a basement; so when the sirens sounded, some our neighbors without basements would grab their kids and run across the street during the storm for shelter; my kid brother called those, "tornado parties."
My apologies, Graham. I am sure that tornadoes are nothing to make fun of, and indeed, I wasn't trying to make fun of tornadoes or the damage they cause. I was also not trying to say that people who do take shelter are "alarmist". Rather, I was aiming at people who don't know what the sirens are for, and panic for no reason. I'm sorry if that fell flat. As I said, my apologies.
Let's just forget about it. I simply want to express my gratitude that we were spared from the storm and we had ample warning.
My first gratidutinous thought was going to be, thanks for my apparently fast and full recovery from COVID, That's clearly #1 in importance, but as I was driving home from dropping my wife off at her lab, I stopped to get donuts, a Tuesday morning tradition for my son and I; on the way there I found myself tempted to buy a cup of dark roast coffee to go with it (we have switched to tea only at home) but I hesitate to pay a couple bucks for a simple cuppa. But after I bought my donuts the seller asked if I wanted coffee with it; I said, no, but how much is it, anyway? She said, "business is light, so I'll just give it to you." So thanks for that. My third thought is thanks for the opportunity to live life at a level almost unheard of, certainly wished for by the rest of the world and the majority of mankind over time. Thanks. Now for that donut and coffee.
Grateful for the light touch of my lovebird's feet on my shoulder as I type this, the gift of trust from another sentient being. Grateful for a fully dry day after several days with a lot of rain. And grateful to be out of the "heat dome" that seems to be covering the American West.
A mug of dark coffee and a chocolate chip cookie, a sunny day out the coffee shop window, calming study music in the headphones. If gratitude can be found in a casual moment, this is it.
Feeling a bit down today for some reason, so this seems a good thing to do. Listening to George Harrison singing Bob Dylan ("If Not For You"), two of my favorite rock musicians. Looking at the squash patch I planted around an old tree stump, watching huge green leaves dancing in the sunny morning breeze. Find myself , as an age-equivalent friend puts it, "still upright and taking nourishment." Far better than that, of course, in reality. Healthy, well-fed, warm and as safe as one can be in this uncertain world.
This morning the lyrics from a 1960s song popped into my mind -- "I got troubles, whoa-oh I got worries, whoa-oh I got wounds to bind" From the one-hit wonder California band, "We Five." The gist of the song as I recall it was that just thinking of someone and taking a walk puts things into perspective. And I think that's right. A couple weeks back I woke up in the night recalling "troubles, worries, and wounds." Thing was, I awoke in $400 a night hotel room on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, after a nice dinner, with the whole day ahead open to me, punctuated by a nice breakfast and lunch. Not that I have suddenly gotten wealthy, only that I was the trailing spouse to a conference my wife was attending, and I had absolutely no responsibilities beyond wandering the city. Yet I was dwelling on the darker side of things. My point is it's not hard to find things to complain about, worry about, or regretfully recall. One must, I believe, remember to look around for what's good right now. So today I'm grateful for my general health, my children, and this cup of Ceylon tea on the warmer beside my computer. How many people in the world, right now and in the past, have those things, plus the opportunity to settle down safely to ponder and write?
Grateful to wake without an alarm and get up without help, and to have a reasonably open, reasonably mild, day spread out before me. Sometimes the small things loom largest.
Good breakfast at my favorite restaurant -- where I'm glad I qualify for the "Senior Special", which includes free bottomless cup of coffee. Grateful for the dawning of what promises to be a sunny and unseasonably cool summer day. Grateful for those "aha" moments when things fall into perspective and I find myself wondering what I was so stressed about.
"When you experience the goodness of being alive, you can respect who and what you are . You need not be intimidated by lots of bills to pay, diapers to change, food to cook, or papers to be filed. Fundamentally, in spite of all those responsibilities, you feel it is a worthwhile situation to be a human being, to be alive, not afraid of death." Chogyam Trungpa, Shambala (Shambala Publications 1984) p. 55.
I went to the ER last Thursday because of a nagging persistent sharp pain in my heart area. I wanted just a low-key visit to my doc, but his office insisted on the ER trip. After a pair of EKGs and some blood work, I was sent home. No heart attack, we'll do some follow-up tests. I'm grateful about the result, obviously. The pain was similar to what preceded my full-blown heart attack 23 years ago. When asked if I have a family history of heart problems I realized that my father, two of his brothers (my uncles), and his sister (my aunt) all died of heart trouble, so too (likely) did my paternal grandfather. So that's lurking out there. But not yet, long dirt nap. Not yet.
I'm grateful, too, Graham. Hope all results are perfect. Years ago, what I thought was a heart attack turned out to be gall bladder attack. That was some stiff pain, ja, you betcha. I got the wretched thing taken out.
This could maybe go in the quotations thread, but it nicely sums up my understanding for this thread: "Once you begin to cherish the things you've always taken for granted, you'll soon feel grateful for everything. . . even boring, annoying, and depressing things. With that attitude at the front of your mind, you can always maintain a sense of gratitude, and this will have a profound effect on your life." Shunmyo Masuno (Zen Buddhist monk), Do Not Worry (Penguin 2019 -- translation 202) p. 39. And he uses the Oxford Comma!
Grateful for a decent dishwasher, more grateful for decent dishes, and most of all grateful for decent food everyday,
"All sanity depends on this: that it should be a delight to feel heat strike the skin, a delight to stand up right, knowing the bones moving easily under the flesh." Doris Lessing.
Grateful for the birds and the bees, the flowers and the trees, and the moon up above. And that thing called love.
Drove home in our late-model car, through a much-needed (albeit a bit excessive and enthusiastic) rainstorm after grocery-shopping -- where we bought all we needed (and a lot we just we wanted) without worrying about where the money would come from -- and drove into a dry garage with its automatic opener, unpacked the food and had a good lunch in a clean, well-equipped kitchen. Grateful for all it.
Grateful for yet another day of working in a clean, well-equipped office, without having to put up with egocentric managers, overlong and wearying commutes, or (too many) crazy-asshole-shouty-sweary customers. Yay.
A bit of selfish gratitudinousness: walking into the coffee shop today, laptop carried over my shoulder, on a sunny weekday morning, it occurred to me that I am living the retirement life of one's dreams, doing what I want, able to afford it (within reason) and able to get there upright and on my own. I am truly and, in my opinion, undeservedly, blessed, but blessed nonetheless. Namaste.
"If the only prayer you say in your entire life is 'thank you,; that would be sufficient." Meister Eckhardt. From Turning and Being Turned, Prajnatara Paula Hirschboeck, p.99 (HenschelHAUS 2019).
