Gratitudes #97 - 107

97. Pretty fall days
98. Having a really big brain
99. My patient and loving man
100. The internet
101. The privilege of being able to attend Burning Man
102. YASH
103. My firm
104. Memory Foam
105. A very VERY patient landlord
106. Pami & Rachel
107. A car that runs well

Gratitudes #81 - 96

I am grateful for:

81. The smell of autumn leaves
82. The Dharma
83. A good night's sleep
84. My therapist
85. Interesting classes (mostly anyway)
86. Homemade popcorn
87. Netflix
88. Cashmere sweaters
89. My Bass Weejuns
90. My daughter's kisses
91. A boyfriend who will fly out to visit me
92. Peanut butter
93. Silence
94. Coffee
95. A car that runs
96. Halloween

Gratitudes #77 - 81

I am grateful for:

77. Time away from school
78. Outdoor pools that don't require memberships
79. A patient landlord
80. A light semester
81. Contact lenses I can wear at night.

Gratitudes #39 - 76

I am grateful for:

39. Dishwashers
40. Washing machines
41. Good tasting fake meat
42. NPR
43. Kenya AA
44. Ethiopian food
45. Game night with my girlz
46. Mental health
47. The Dharma
48. Octavia Butler
49. Sarcasm
50. My goldfish
51. A kind and generous ex-husband
52. The big red poof chair in my living room
53. Digital cameras
54. Gourmet Mix salad seasoning from Migros in Switzerland
55. Silver Queen corn
56. Smithfield ham
57. Highlighters
58. Clove bath gel
59. Sex toys
60. Cell phones
61. Post-It notes
62. Indoor plumbing
63. My man's scent
64. A kid who eats damn near anything
65. Regular periods
66. Homemade coconut ice cream
67. Hot tubs
68. Costco
69. Independent media
70. Stars (the sky kind)
71. The OED
72. The number 72
73. The ACLU
74. Toilet paper
75. Sprinklers
76. WestLaw

Gratitudes #33 - 38

I am grateful for:

33. Breath
34. The ability to read
35. Cool, breezy nights
36. The sound of the frogs singing at the nearby park
37. A three-year warranty on my laptop
38. A car that works

Gratitudes #1 - 31

I am grateful for:

1. my daughter
   
2. cool nights in July
3. a clean, safe place to live
4. my patient and helpful landlord
5. being able to read
6. my very comfy bed
7. the love of a good man
8. coffee
9. my laptop
10. being able to go to back to school to get my law degree
11. my intelligence
12. a community of women who truly care about me
13. my mother
14. peanut butter M&Ms
15. dim sum
16. Pema Chodron
17. DVD players
18. the peace my fish tank gives me
19. a working car
20. an incredible daycare for my daughter
21. art
22. my sexuality
23. barrettes
24. karaoke bars
25. butter
26. electricity
27. modern pharmaceuticals
28. the internet
29. IM
30. Target
31. beer
    

Prologue

I am learning and discovering the practice of Tonglen meditation. In tonglen practice, when one comes up against any form of suffering, one breathes that suffering in, with the purpose of feeling it, accepting it, and owning it. Then, one breathes out compassion, loving-kindness, and relief. It is a simple but powerful idea -- taking on all the bad and giving away all the good in order to relieve the suffering of all sentient beings.

One of the ways I am trying to do this is to breathe out gratitude; to remember on a day-to-day basis how blessed I am and to give voice to that. Gratitude is one of those things, like compassion and loving kindness, which cannot but improve the world. If we all thought more about what we DO have - as opposed to what we don't have - this world would be a much gentler place. Gratitude, like its aforementioned sisters, short-circuits anger and hatred.

Some days, this is harder than others. Some days, I feel very little thankfulness and very little compassion and very little love for the world. And on some days, my cup, as they say, runneth over. Regardless of what my day is like, I want to remember to feel gratitude - for things great and small, silly and profound.