Gratitude Journal, Day 5

On Sunday, I ended up having a lot of housework to do — cleaning the house, some laundry, and cooking. At some point, I found myself resistant to what I was doing. I just wanted to stop and have some time to rest, and then to write. When I was vacuuming the bedroom rugs, I could sense my tension was growing.

Wait a minute, I said to myself, is there another way I could be doing what I’m doing? I remembered my recent trip to Gethsemani and how one of the monks talked to me about doing things with love. Could I bring love to this moment? As I filled myself with gratitude for my home and for the health to clean my house, I noticed an attitude of love emerging. And with an orientation of doing things with love, the resistance and tension in my body began to ease.

Gratitudes, Sunday, November 22

1. Grateful to go bike riding with my husband through Golden Gate park.

2. Grateful to get good quality fruits and vegetables at the farmer’s market. I have been trying a variety of apples and enjoying their different flavors and textures.

3. Grateful for the motivation and energy to clean the house. And grateful for how great it feels when the house is clean!

4. Grateful to have a couple of hours to write. When I take the pressure off my time, things flow more easily.

5. Grateful for listening to my body and resting for twenty minutes in the middle of the day.

Remember as Meister Eckart said: If the only prayer you said in your whole life was thank you that would be suffice.