As we are coming up on our Grateful Gathering retreat, Ada and I are getting in the seasonal mood and reflecting on our own relationships with gratitude. I am keenly aware this year of what a powerful practice gratitude is, and how wonderful it is that North American culture at large (as well as others) has set the intention to gather together to give thanks. This is our inspiration for the retreat so that instead of just 1 day of this we get to bask in it for a whole weekend, and then we get to do it again on Thanksgiving, and hopefully develop practices that bring gratitude into our daily lives.
Two Paths
...it doesn’t take very long listening to the news to realize that I have things pretty good.
Sometimes in the midst of frustrations, the recognition I have of my affluence becomes a socially encouraged and self enforced pressure at my back that I should be more grateful.
The mind that judges this situation versus that situation as better or worse, then is in danger of turning upon itself and the judgement becomes condemnation.
Relying solely on rationality I find myself so tangled up in competing desires and rational paths that I feel unable to be really effective in moving any direction.