{"id":529,"date":"2008-06-11T23:54:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-11T23:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2008\/06\/gratitude-journal-13\/"},"modified":"2008-06-11T23:54:00","modified_gmt":"2008-06-11T23:54:00","slug":"gratitude-journal-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2008\/06\/gratitude-journal-13.html","title":{"rendered":"Gratitude Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\"\"<\/a>A sparrow (I think, though I\u2019m not sure which variety) from my Vipassana Retreat, Camp Child, MT.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Cool rain drops ripple in puddles outside, a lone bird sings, and npr<\/a> tells me what\u2019s going on in the world. Unemployment is up, an errant US bomb kills Pakistani allies, <\/span>Kucinich<\/a> introduces articles of impeachment against Bush.<\/span> I think I\u2019ll listen to that bird some more. In the meantime, here are some things I\u2019m thankful for this week:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Practice \u2013 meditation. <\/span>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.<\/li>\n
  2. Bathtubs<\/span>. MMMmmm\u2026 One of the little pleasures of life these days is a hot soak in bath salts with sage oil and candles nearby.<\/li>\n
  3. Wildlife<\/span>. 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.<\/li>\n
  4. Missoula livin\u2019<\/span>. The slow pace here allows some cool evaluation of life, what is important and what is not. Perhaps that\u2019s just for me, but definitely when I\u2019ve been other places I know I had to struggle to keep my values and priorities \u2013 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\u2019s visions of me, and I\u2019m glad to be here.<\/li>\n
  5. Opportunity. Every loss is an opportunity.<\/span> There is a famous Zen story of a master pouring a cup of tea into a proud student\u2019s cup, letting it overflow and continuing to pour. Exasperated, the student asked what the master was doing. The master replied, \u201cjust as a full cup holds no more tea, a proud student, thinking he knows everything, has nothing to learn from me.\u201d 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\u2019ve lost a lot lately (perhaps), and gained a great deal as well. I think I\u2019m still far from overflowing, so if any of those lost things were to find themselves back in my cup, I think we\u2019d be ok.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Many smiles, wishing you all joy and freedom from suffering.<\/p>\n

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

    A sparrow (I think, though I\u2019m 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\u2019s going on in the world. Unemployment is up, an errant US bomb kills Pakistani allies, Kucinich introduces articles of impeachment against Bush. […]<\/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-529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGratitude Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"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\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2008\/06\/gratitude-journal-13.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gratitude Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2008\/06\/gratitude-journal-13.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Buddhist Perspectives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-06-11T23:54:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_fyeYpxfdjuI\/SFBhNs37WQI\/AAAAAAAAAIE\/2XUxBRxSAOE\/s320\/Vipassana+Retreat+May+08+%288%29.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2008\/06\/gratitude-journal-13.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2008\/06\/gratitude-journal-13.html\",\"name\":\"Gratitude Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-06-11T23:54:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-06-11T23:54:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9\"},\"description\":\"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\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2008\/06\/gratitude-journal-13.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2008\/06\/gratitude-journal-13.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2008\/06\/gratitude-journal-13.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gratitude Journal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/\",\"name\":\"American Buddhist Perspectives\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9\",\"name\":\"Justin Whitaker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Justin Whitaker\"},\"description\":\"I am an almost-life-long Montanan; a baptized Catholic; an ardent Atheist; a practicing Buddhist; a lover of Wisdom. 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