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
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
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
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
Friday, July 08, 2005
Gratitudes #1 - 31
I am grateful for:
- my daughter
- cool nights in July
- a clean, safe place to live
- my patient and helpful landlord
- being able to read
- my very comfy bed
- the love of a good man
- coffee
- my laptop
- being able to go to back to school to get my law degree
- my intelligence
- a community of women who truly care about me
- my mother
- peanut butter M&Ms
- dim sum
- Pema Chodron
- DVD players
- the peace my fish tank gives me
- a working car
- an incredible daycare for my daughter
- art
- my sexuality
- barrettes
- karaoke bars
- butter
- electricity
- modern pharmaceuticals
- the internet
- IM
- Target
- 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.
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.
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