Giving Thanks

For the love of my life. For my wonderful children and grandchildren. For the roof over my head. For the food on the shelves. For the clean water I drink. For the air that I breathe.

I don't write often enough about a ritual I perform, a part of this quest that is thought trivial, even worthless, by most - the act of gratitude.

Last week was good. I reached goal and entered the maintenance phase of my Weight Watchers journey on Tuesday. The Big Lug and I went on an overnight to celebrate - not far, but far enough. We stopped by an antique mall we'd found on a previous hunting expedition, for what, I didn't quite know - a reward for hitting the mark, but what?

I saw a couple of nice (not leap-from-the-page awesome) pieces of milk glass, but it was (of course) the jewelry that caught my eye. A ring, specifically. I'd thought I wanted a pretty amethyst, but I tried on anything I could find. After dozens of random pieces, amethysts and sapphires and rubies and all, I couldn't get this one ring out of my mind - 14K gold, vintage swirl pattern, antique-cut emerald with three tiny diamonds on each side, it was perfect on my hand. And though I don't know much about stones (yet), I do know this one is flawed - enough to keep the price low ($112 down from $140) but not enough to turn me off. I bought it. As is my habit, I thanked the Source of All Things Good for this amazing blessing, not just because it was (I believe) a bargain but because it was waiting just for me. And I meant it.

Unlike most people, I do not save this rite for a single day of the year (Thanksgiving) but do it every day, for what I have, for whatever catches my fancy, for whatever has enriched my life at any given moment - the basics of life, the people I love and who love me, my cat's funny chin, the 14K gold and diamond (?) "door knocker" earrings I found on Wednesday for $1.60 at a thrift store, the vision for this quest, the amazing bean soup I made yesterday - all get an immediate "thank You." Sometimes, during especially trying periods, I must on purpose find five things before I sleep, even if it takes work, but most days I don't have to reduce my gratitude to a scheduled, rote prayer. Indeed, most days my cup is full to overflowing.

I believe that bounty is because I say "thank You." In the years when I thought it was all about me, about my needs and my skills and my talents and my work, I had no one to thank but plenty to condemn - during those years, credit was mine but fault was always someone else's, you know the routine.

One day the absurdity of that equation rose up to meet me, wham!, right in the face, the way my roads tend to do. Now I know better. And I do not blame (or at least I catch myself before it goes too far). And I always try to say "thank You."

Now my life is bigger than I ever thought it could be, full to bursting with purpose and love and security and serenity, as anyone's life can be. Trouble is, most people look for changes before they show gratitude. They believe something amazing or out of the ordinary must happen for which to give thanks before they can do so. Not so. Changes - good changes - cannot occur in a stew of anger and selfishness and fear. I had to find that out the hard way (as usual). You don't.

Shift perspective, today. Get outside of your own skin. Try this - look around; find five things for which to be grateful, and then say it. No, seriously, don't wait until some stupid national holiday tells you to do it - say "thank You," aloud, at your computer, right now.

Now close your eyes, say it again slowly, and mean it.

Now look around again.

Yeah, you saw it, too.

Amazing, isn't it?