So Grateful for Gratitude

Is having cancer challenging? Absolutely! But it has also brought many gifts into my life, one of those being the deepening of my gratefulness for so many things – the gift of life, the preciousness of this moment, the river of breath as it moves through me (and all of life), a warm smile, the shadow play of light on the leaves of a tree, the purr of my cat, the joy of loving and being loved.

Gratitude is a magical salve that can heal the wounds of life as it quiets your mind and opens your heart.

There is no one who speaks more clearly about the amazing gift of gratitude than brother David Steindl-Rast. So, I wanted to share with you the transcript of his amazing video on gratefulness and at the end of this blog is a link to that video.

You think this is just another day in your life. It’s not just another day; it’s the one day that is given to you today. It’s given to you. It’s a gift. It’s the only gift that you have right now, and the only appropriate response is gratefulness. If you do nothing else but to cultivate that response to the great gift that is this unique day is, if you learn to respond as if it were the first day of your life, and the very last day, then you will have spent this day very well.

Begin by opening your eyes and be surprised that you have eyes you can open, that incredible array of colors that is constantly offered to us for pure enjoyment. Look at the sky. We so rarely look at the sky. We so rarely note how different it is from moment to moment with clouds coming and going. We just think of the weather, and even of the weather, we don’t think of all the many nuances of weather. We just think of good weather and bad weather. This day right now has unique weather, maybe a kind that will never exactly in that form come again. The formation of clouds in the sky will never be the same that it is right now. Open your eyes. Look at that.

 Look at the faces of people that you meet. Each one has an incredible story behind their face, a story that you could never fully fathom, not only their own story, but the story of their ancestors. We all go back so far. And in this present moment on this day all the people you meet, all that life from generations and from so many places all over the world, flows together and meets you here like a life-giving water, if you only open your heart and drink.

Open your heart to the incredible gifts that civilization gives to us. You flip a switch and there is electric light. You turn a faucet and there is warm water and cold water — and drinkable water. It’s a gift that millions and millions in the world will never experience. So these are just a few of an enormous number of gifts to which you can open your heart.

And so I wish for you that you would open your heart to all these blessings and let them flow through you, that everyone whom you will meet on this day will be blessed by you; just by your eyes, by your smile, by your touch — just by your presence. Let the gratefulness overflow into blessing all around you, and then it will really be a good day.

Thank you, Brother David.

Click here for the link to the video 

May you open into the healing world of gratitude, not only for your own healing but for all beings who live on this precious planet we call home.