An Early Thanksgiving

There is so much to be grateful for.  I love when I realize it at the strangest times.

Yesterday was a typically hectic Friday morning at work (does everybody want coffee on Fridays or what?).  So there I was taking orders, chatting with our regulars, and swinging back and forth between probably ten different tasks when I bent down to open the small refrigerator that holds our breakfast sandwiches.  As I opened it, a singular thought scrolled through my head, as if someone was actually whispering the words directly in my ear, loud enough to be heard over the music and din of conversation that was erupting all around me.   It was this:

I am so grateful to have this job.    

Wow, I thought.  I am grateful.

This realization helped keep me focused and light all the way through the morning rush, long after my espresso buzz had ceased.   Now I will admit, I have worked many a morning without even feeling remotely grateful for my job.  That is the ugly truth.  But on this day, here it was.  I felt grateful.  I was grateful to be smiling, working, laughing.  I was grateful for my co-workers, who kept their wits about them when the line wrapped outside the door, snaking around the corner.  I don't know, I just felt good about it all I guess.

It's interesting, this space of gratitude.  It is a wide-open space, and there is lots of room to move around in it.  It is not about transporting out of any situation and into another, but more like relaxing into whatever is actually happening in the moment with a gentle ease.  When you are in gratitude, you know it.  You want to spread it around, share it generously, and leave a thankful piece of the gratitude pie with everyone you meet.  In short, it is way too powerful to just keep to yourself. 

So I spent most of the day after work counting my blessings.  

I thought about how glad I am to be alive on the planet, at this moment in time.  I reflected on all of the people I have ever come in contact with up to now, and though I could not remember all the names, somehow I felt the impact they have had upon my life.  Each one was a blessing.  I felt grateful for everything that has come to pass in the 38 years of my existence:  the good, bad and the ugly.  All of it.  And I would not be who I am today if anything were different.  

I thought about life, and how I am perpetually learning new and different ways of seeing the world.  It is never static.  I thought about how change is a good thing, even when it scares the hell out of me.  I felt enormous gratitude for being pushed out of my comfort zone, for learning how to trust the Universe more and more, and for being willing to admit that I don't have all the answers.  There is a kind of freedom that comes from not knowing where life will lead that is absolutely, positively refreshing. 

I thought about how good it feels to just let go. 

I reflected on how enjoyable life can be every time I just relax.  The times when I am able to stop, get out of my routine and let life take me where I need to go, those are the times I find myself most alive and full of joy.  I thought about how easy it is to get caught up in the world, to forget my place in it, and how grateful I am for the reminders to just stop and breathe once in awhile. 

I thought about how grateful I am just to remember to give thanks.

Most of all, I thought about life and how we are all like students in a great big classroom.  The class continues throughout eternity.  We only have each other to learn with, make mistakes with.  We have each other to love, to overcome our fears with, to learn compassion and tolerance.  We have each other.  I thought about what a tremendous gift that is, perhaps the greatest of them all.   And we really do need each other.  I felt grateful for all the times I am able to acknowledge this truth, and even for the times where I completely forget it. 

What to do in those times of forgetfulness?  Well, I can always start by counting my blessings again.  I'm sure I can come up with more.  There is so much to be grateful for, far beyond what I can acknowledge in one sitting, that this counting should be a regular practice anyway.  As long as I live, I will never come up with every little thing.  Impossible.  But I can always keep digging and looking for new ways to see the world, and all of the treasures it holds. 

You never can tell when gratitude will strike but when it does, you will always know.  And for that, we can all give thanks.