Gratitude

Gratitude is not a passive response to something we have been given, gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without us…Thanksgiving happens when our sense of presence meets all other presences.  

~ David Whyte

I’m writing this blog while sitting in the waiting area of a small locally owned auto service center. My laptop computer is connected to the Internet via the hotspot on my phone.  It’s only 8:00 am but already hot outside so the air conditioner in the window and the fan in the corner of the room are keeping the room cool.  The coffee pot on the table in another corner fills the room with familiar morning aromas.  The service tech asks me what kind oil to use and I don’t have a clue. He quickly adds that it’s no problem he’ll look up the recommended type online.

Sun streams through the window at a low morning angle as it continues to wake up our part of the world, including tens and hundreds of thousands of commuters who have filled streets and highways with their radios on and are learning of more violent death in an airport on the other side of the world.  Somewhere others are learning that people they know and love are among the dead and injured. My thoughts drift to those closest to me and my heart sings with joy, anticipating being with them to celebrate love and marriage this coming weekend.

Sitting alone with my thoughts I feel as if the whole world is with me.  Connected by the sun of a new day, power grids, world-wide webs of data, physical senses, streets, highways, flyways, oceans, radio waves, human pain and suffering, and human joy and love – I am truly grateful in this moment!

The quote above comes from one of the best statements on Gratitude and Thanksgiving that I’ve encountered. Please take time to read it. Then take moment to pay attention to the gratitude all around us.