Gratitude Journal

A sparrow (I think, though I’m not sure which variety) from my Vipassana Retreat, Camp Child, MT.

Cool rain drops ripple in puddles outside, a lone bird sings, and npr tells me what’s going on in the world. Unemployment is up, an errant US bomb kills Pakistani allies, Kucinich introduces articles of impeachment against Bush. I think I’ll listen to that bird some more. In the meantime, here are some things I’m thankful for this week:

1. Practice – meditation. My two lovely -though short- retreats have kick-started a good daily practice for me, and now leading a weekly group at the University will only serve to further anchor me in meditation. More retreats will come, more practice, hopefully never becoming lax again.
2. Bathtubs. MMMmmm… One of the little pleasures of life these days is a hot soak in bath salts with sage oil and candles nearby.
3. Wildlife. Brightly colored birds dance in those puddles below my window, fuzzy-antlered deer greet me in my front yard or just up the hill a block away, and crazy-bearded hippies pass happily on the trails and walks near campus.
4. Missoula livin’. The slow pace here allows some cool evaluation of life, what is important and what is not. Perhaps that’s just for me, but definitely when I’ve been other places I know I had to struggle to keep my values and priorities – the other route being to simply adopt the values and priorities of those around me. I think I easily could have slipped into other people’s visions of me, and I’m glad to be here.
5. Opportunity. Every loss is an opportunity. There is a famous Zen story of a master pouring a cup of tea into a proud student’s cup, letting it overflow and continuing to pour. Exasperated, the student asked what the master was doing. The master replied, “just as a full cup holds no more tea, a proud student, thinking he knows everything, has nothing to learn from me.” So when our cup finds itself a bit emptied, cry not for the lack, but smile at the opportunity to fill the cup with new things. I’ve lost a lot lately (perhaps), and gained a great deal as well. I think I’m still far from overflowing, so if any of those lost things were to find themselves back in my cup, I think we’d be ok.

Many smiles, wishing you all joy and freedom from suffering.