Green Oasis

1. I am grateful to have a picture of my beautiful bride on my office calendar this month.
2. I am thankful for my two functional legs. It’s a pleasure to walk with them.
3. I’m still alive!
4. I am grateful for the beautiful weather.
5. I am thankful for the lingering scent of peeled orange at my desk.

I am grateful…

1. … for time I had this weekend to play with my daughters and reconnect. It’s easy to forget to do.
2. … that my wife is feeling a bit better. I missed her typical vivacity.
3. … that I’m not drowning under all the math required by my class this semester.
4. … for a steady job that provides the necessities of life.
5. … that my health allows me to enjoy life.

1. I’m grateful for a newfound mindfulness. I tend to make little rules and expectations for myself like “no eating after 7 PM” or “finish everything on today’s task list”. I start having a nagging sense of dissatisfaction when I break the rules, the rules I set for myself. When I get dissatisfied, I become discouraged and tend to fall even shorter of my expectations. Recently, I’ve become more aware of this self-inflicted cycle. Self-forgiving awareness has allowed me to notice the dissatisfaction, let it wash over me, and see it dissipate in the light of my conscious awareness.
2. I’m grateful to be feeling healthy again.
3. The weather is bright and sunny. It might as well be spring. I feel a little silly wearing my sweater.
4. I am thankful that I’ve found renewed motivation in my job. I hate feeling like I’m slacking off, and yet I still do it when a task is so big or ill-defined that I don’t know where to start. Really, I should thank Thich Nhat Hanh. He said “Smile, breathe, and go slowly.” I’ve been trying to practice this at work, and I’m much more productive (despite going slowly).
5. I am grateful for the class that I was able to attend today. I am realizing that I need to brush up on some math, but I enjoy this kind of challenge.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I can blog about my gratitude without seeming to jump on the bandwagon. It’s a fashionably late sort of thing. Anyway…

1. My wife and children are always the first people who spring to my mind. I enjoy spending time with them and helping them. Each one enriches my life in unique ways. I am grateful that they are part of my life.
2. I am grateful for a seemingly stable job. In these turbulent times, I understand how precarious a thing jobs are. I’ve been unemployed and remember how demoralizing it can be. I hope I don’t have to relive that.
3. I am grateful to be alive. The fact that I am currently enjoying my turn at life is astounding. There was and will be an eternity of time without me in the universe. This short time between those voids of nonexistence is precious to me.
4. I am thankful for my health. It could be gone tomorrow, in the blink of an eye. Or it could slowly ebb away with age. I hope to enjoy it while it lasts.
5. I am grateful to live in an age of enlightenment. I often bemoan our superstition and ignorance, but the truth is that knowledge is more available than ever before.

Over a year ago, my doctor ordered a blood test that showed that I had borderline high cholesterol.

Since then, I changed my diet and started to exercise regularly. I received the results of another blood test today. My efforts have paid off: all of my cholesterol levels are now within the normal range.

The truth is that I haven’t been very consistent or disciplined. My saving virtue was persistence. I went through many periods of eating poorly and avoiding exercise; but critically, I kept my goal in mind, forgave myself quickly, forgot the past, and got back on the horse.

I’m sure that I could have done much better had I been more disciplined. That wasn’t necessary. What I did was good enough.