(From another blog I write.)
grate·ful – adj – \ˈgrāt-fəl\ From the Merriam Webster Dictionary
1 a : appreciative of benefits received b : expressing gratitude
2 a : affording pleasure or contentment : pleasing b : pleasing by reason of comfort supplied or discomfort alleviated —
grate·ful·ly adverb — grate·ful·ness noun
Examples of GRATEFUL - The college sent us a grateful acknowledgment of our donation. - I’m grateful to you for your help. - The voice quacking at the other end of the line sounded surprised and grateful—a young man’s eager voice, thankful for the sudden interruption on an otherwise empty afternoon. —Paul Theroux, Granta, Summer 1992
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Every year before my family and I start our Thanksgiving feast, we all go around the table and say what we’re thankful for- a pretty standard Thanksgiving tradition. But when it inevitably circles around to me, I say that I am thankful for the beagle puppy that I will receive in a month for Christmas. I have thanked my parents for Bernard the Beagle for close to ten years. And I have yet to receive said puppy. About four years in, it became an annual joke to thank my parents for finally deciding to invest in Bernie.
Sharing your gratitude becomes an almost sacred event across the nation once a year and it’s a little bratty of me to be thankful for something I want but know I am not going to get or even really need. I’m not going to lecture you on the state of the world with children starving in Somalia, the stigma of HIV or even tell you how you should appreciate the small things. It doesn’t matter what you’re thankful for- just that you are thankful.
I know I have wasted a lot of time thinking about the things that I don’t have, things I think I need, instead of just seeing what was already there giving me strength and stability. Early this year, it became important to me to recognize and honor all the things that I am grateful for and to do it often. Below is a poem I wrote in gratitude.
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I am grateful. I am grateful for camp, the kids and the cause that gives my life purpose, drive and motivation.
I am grateful for Toby, for Jet- for all dogs really.
I am grateful for speech, for my ability to communicate
I am grateful for my pillows.
For this pen and for this journal.
I am grateful for tangerines, green tea, triscuits and cheese, Earl Grey and caramel macchiatos and pizza.
I am grateful for running and for my iPod shuffle.
I am grateful for yoga and mediation.
I am grateful for books, stories, jokes and movies.
I am grateful for the clothes I own and can afford to give away.
I am grateful for my computer, the internet, hot dogs and online banking.
I am grateful for San Gabriel, for boba milk tea, and thai food.
I am grateful for the stars and warm summer nights and cool summer mornings.
I am grateful for music.
I am grateful for my heart and that it never lets me down but continues to challenge me to be more compassionate.
I am grateful for anger and how it shows me its uselessness.
I am grateful for the obstacles in my life.
I am grateful for love, having been in love and out of it. ——
I have numerous journal pages filled with lists of things and people I am grateful to for the things they teach me about myself and the things they enable me to do. I will say that hope still lives on that one day Bernard and I will find each other and our kindred spirits will walk off into the sunset- okay, a very faint hope. But this thanksgiving I want you to reflect on the importance of the things that you already have; your families, friends, teachers, food, your intelligence, talents, sense of humor and your resilience.
Tell me what you’re grateful for.
(Source: kindlingleaders.com)
