{"id":523,"date":"2008-06-19T14:07:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-19T14:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2008\/06\/gratitude-journal-12\/"},"modified":"2008-06-19T14:07:00","modified_gmt":"2008-06-19T14:07:00","slug":"gratitude-journal-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2008\/06\/gratitude-journal-12.html","title":{"rendered":"Gratitude Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The morning sun rises over my mountain (they call it Mount Sentinel for now, but I\u2019m working on renaming it Justin\u2019s Mountain, ha!). I sip my second cup of coffee. Regina Spektor<\/a> comes through the speakers. I am all dressed to run to the gym, but suddenly I feel quite content right where I am. So, to kill some time and soak up some sun\u2026. A bit of what I am grateful for today:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Little things<\/span> \u2013 like Maggie (Magnus, my friend Jen\u2019s youngest boy). I really do look forward to being a father someday. Until then I am very grateful for Jen for letting me hang out with her kids, learning some of the things one might not <\/span>do with little ones (like taking them on a pretty steep hike up the mountain). This little grumpy monkey had to be bribed with ice cream to get up the mountain and then a dollar to let me carry him down the last steep part \ud83d\ude42 Oh well, he survived, pretty happy in the end, and I<\/span> had fun. \"\"<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Ice cream in June, or any month really. <\/span> Ice cream is scientifically proven to bring a sense of well being. Add sunshine, a cool town, a friend (or several), and worries just slip away.<\/li>\n
  3. Wildflowers \u2013 all things wild, actually.<\/span> They are reminders of our true nature and teachers of simplicity. \u201cConsider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin.\u201d (Matthew 6:28) Why then do we<\/span> toil so? I suppose the Buddhist<\/a> answer is that it is ignorance<\/span>, or that it just doesn\u2019t matter \u2013 we toil, it causes suffering, we can stop and find freedom \u2013 here\u2019s how<\/a>. Now get to it. \"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Sunsets \u2013 so beautiful here, so slow.<\/span> Those last moments, the sun seems to grow in all directions, wrapping the world in its warmth like that last hug from a good friend after a hard day. Then, gracefully, it slips beyond the western mountains. And as it sets here, it rises somewhere far away, perhaps India. Our day closes, theirs begins. All is connected.\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Big things \u2013 Mountains<\/span>, barriers to humanity\u2019s hubris, giving us lessons in our smallness in body and mind.
    \n
    \n

    When we truly enter the mountains,<\/em>
    birds, bugs, beasts and blossoms<\/em>
    radiate supernatural excellence<\/em>
    and take great delight in our presence.<\/em><\/p>\n

    \u2013 D\u014dg<\/span>en, Mountains and Rivers Sutra<\/a>,
    as interpreted by     John Daido Loori, Roshi<\/a>
    <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Time to run. Take joy into your day.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The morning sun rises over my mountain (they call it Mount Sentinel for now, but I\u2019m working on renaming it Justin\u2019s Mountain, ha!). I sip my second cup of coffee. Regina Spektor comes through the speakers. I am all dressed to run to the gym, but suddenly I feel quite content right where I am. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGratitude Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The morning sun rises over my mountain (they call it Mount Sentinel for now, but I'm working on renaming it Justin's Mountain, ha!). 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