Gratitude

A few years ago, when I was going through a scary work transition, I noticed at night I would worry about what was going to happen. How would it be if things didn’t work out? How would we survive? At that point I started to remember all I was grateful for before I went to sleep. On bad days, all I could think of was a roof over my head or being warm. On better days, I was thankful for many more small and large blessings in my life. My family, friends, getting to do work I value… It was so helpful for me to calm down and be present as opposed to working myself into a frenzy about “what could happen…”

Brother David Steinl Rast put banana stickers on things he took for granted. (As a monk he did not have much, so the stickers on bananas were handy.) So he put stickers on his light switch to remember to be thankful for electricity or on the water tap to remember to be thankful for running water. I thought that was a great idea. I wonder if I could get a sticker to adhere to my husband or other loved ones I take for granted.