http://reflectionsfromthebellcurve.blogspot.com/2011/06/waxing-waning-of-gratitude.html
The above was published when my blog was not quite three months old. Over the ensuing five years, it's gratifying to note how the consistency of my gratitude has steadily improved. One clear contributing factor? Blogging.
In an ongoing attempt to remain fresh here, I am clearly paying closer attention. Often, a single idea captured in my blog notebook - whether or not it becomes a post - is enough to make me feel grateful. Even noticing things as mundane as temperate days, license plates or street signs, a child giggling, can remind me. Comments - online or off - take me up another level. I'm grateful to anyone who reads or comments.
As pleased as I am that my gratitude does not ping pong as much as before starting to blog, I am also fully mindful no major life challenges have surfaced for me over the same time period. I've had an exceptional five years. A real test of growth will be how I bounce back after facing the next boulder. If I can find my way back to being grateful after that - whatever "that" is - then it may be time to declare my days of waxing and waning gratitude are a thing of the past. That would be nice.
About Me
- Pat Barton
- My most recent single release - "My True North" - is now available on Bandcamp. Open my profile and click on "audio clip".
Not ping ponging as much is, I believe, a sign you’re living more in the moment. That’s a wonderful step in personal growth. I feel that your more consistent gratitude is “preparation” for the inevitable boulders to come. Gratitude now is practice to help you to live under the shadows of boulders which arrive in the future.
ReplyDeletePeter; Great insight. And I hope you're right about the practice piece.
DeleteWell stated, Peter. Now, on a humorous note, the last boulder I confronted was in a Scrabble game. My nemesis played the word "bowlder" and I challenged it. Turns out that bowlder is an acceptable variation of the spelling. I guess we're never totally prepared for what life rolls our way!
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