Christmas Gratitude Special

A number of the bloggers that I follow have been in one form or another been immersed in the practice giving thanks (gratitude) for what they have. In my opinion this is a very high act for any of us to be doing. I started incorporating giving thanks as a part of my spiritual practices in the months just before the organ donation operation. I now make this a part of my daily activities.

While I often do it after I meditate or while walking early in the morning, the most common time is when I step into the shower in the morning.

I start because I'm reminded of the incredible miracle of running water, clean water, warm water whenever I want it and being thankful for living in a time and place where this is a regular part of my life and how incredibly lucky I am to have this. Then I will go on mentally down a checklist sort of as follows.

I am grateful and give thanks for:

• Having a warm, dry secure place to live in
• Warm cloths, a car, nice furniture, a great house
• Living in a country where I don't have to worry about someone coming and destroying what I have
• Living in a time and a place and a country where my everyday lifestyle would be considered luxury in most of history and even in most of the world now
• Having not only enough to eat but haven been given the ability and means to enjoy the pleasuer of eating and drinking
• Being able to live in a place of spectacular beauty
• Having a wonderful relationship with my wife and children when at many times in my life it seemed that would never happen
• Being given the numerous challenges in life that somehow or another I have managed to get beyond and that have made me a significantly better person
• Becoming awakened spiritually and having that become the center of my life
• Being given the opportunity to donate my kidney to my sister with all the trials and triumphs that that entailed and what it taught me about myself
• Having been able to reconnect with my siblings and my father
• Work that I truly love and where I feel I am doing good
• Work where I can also excel and serve both my ego and my monetary ambitions
• Partners who are great people and a pleasure to be with and who share the same values I do
• Experiences that are allowing me to make the best of the current environment

And so on. I try to really feel the feeling of gratitude as I do this and keep that feeling with me throughout the day.

On this Christmas when I have my girls, their men and their children all here, I hope you are having a wonderful holiday and that your life will be filled with gratitude.