It's Thankful Thursday.
Joy expands and contracts in direct relation to our sense of gratitude.
Sometimes my thankfulness feels small. When all about us is war, illness and natural disaster, my gratitude for sunshine and sorbet feels, well, trite. And, indeed, it is. But I wonder if these times of external crisis are when I need to count my blessings even more. Just as the big events can wear us down, the small things can build us back up.
On this Thankful Thursday, I am thankful for:
Yellow Shoes
My sister sent me shoes. It's not even my birthday. In fact, it's her birthday (and I'm late with a gift). I love surprises + shoes + sun. "I know you don't wear bright colors," she said. "But I think you will like them." And I do (paired with neutrals, of course). I'm thankful for the shoes but I'm most thankful for my thoughtful sister.
A Facebook Intervention
A friend calls me, a bit of mock urgency in her voice. "I'm worried about you," she says. "I'm seeing you all over Facebook. Are you addicted again? Do you need an intervention?" Drat! She's right. I've been here before. And now, again, for a few days (okay, a week), Facebook sucked me back in. I was on a binge of pithy reactions and quick retorts. It was pathetic. I needed air. And as much as I didn't want to admit it, I was glad to be outed.
Anne Herbert
Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty. Remember that 1990s-era mantra that was all over car bumpers? Turns out a real person wrote it — Anne Herbert. I don't know where I thought it came from. It arrived before the internet age and as much as I think about words, I never considered the author of those words. And Anne didn't write just one catchy phrase, but dozens, and you can read them here. Next assignment: Discover who wrote Visualize Whirled Peas.
What are you thankful for today? A person, a place, a thing? A story, a song, a poem? What makes your world expand?