Peace and Gratitude

[+ SimplyAdam]

Since this isn't the place to discuss politics, religion, or war, why not point out that it's International Peace Day?

 

In line with Gandhi's divine advice to "be the change you wish to see in the world," a recurring theme in my life is noticing how peace is dependent upon me. Every day, in every way. If we find peaceful ways of being, then doing... one person to another, then as a collective... well, there you have eventual world peace. Someday.

 

It's also worth mentioning that it's World Gratitude Day. How apropos! Grateful people are, seemingly by default, peace-loving, peace-offering folks. It's difficult to be angry or act unconsciously when you're brimming with gratefulness.

 

So, given our tenuous, oft-turbulent times, my question today is: What are you especially thankful for in your day-to-day life?

[happyguy2]

Since this isn't the place to discuss politics, religion, or war, why not point out that it's International Peace Day?

 

In line with Gandhi's divine advice to "be the change you wish to see in the world," a recurring theme in my life is noticing how peace is dependent upon me. Every day, in every way. If we find peaceful ways of being, then doing... one person to another, then as a collective... well, there you have eventual world peace. Someday.

 

It's also worth mentioning that it's World Gratitude Day. How apropos! Grateful people are, seemingly by default, peace-loving, peace-offering folks. It's difficult to be angry or act unconsciously when you're brimming with gratefulness.

 

So, given our tenuous, oft-turbulent times, my question today is: What are you especially thankful for in your day-to-day life?

what a wonderful way to start off my day! Thanks. I am thankful for my family and resolve to do more to keep us together now that we are spread all over this continent.

[bigvalboy]

Brilliant post Simply Adam...

 

I'm grateful everyday that I'm vertical and not horizontal, and that God allows me another day to leave this place just a little bit better than I found it.

[+ quoththeraven]

Pretty much the same as BVB (the being alive part, anyway). Also my cat, who insists I get up and pet her every so often. I would probably be even more of a hermit than I am without her.

[+ sync]

SA, I'm thankful that there are people like yourself who are able to see the glass as half full amid the acrimonious verbal, heinous physical, and cruel mental and emotional attacks that riddle our present-day society. It was a pleasure to read your inspiring and comforting posting.

[+ glennnn]

Among many fine aspects of my day-to-day existence, I am grateful for this Forum that has allowed me to honestly show who I am for the first time in my life.

[+ MasssageGuy]

Wonderful post Simply Adam. Now that I no longer work in the "Corporate" world, I find the time to reflect and enjoy each day along with the wonderfully smart and "enlightened" company here in this digital paradise.

[+ SimplyAdam]

You're welcome, guys - we post stuff as much for ourselves as for others, so the content may as well be uplifting.

 

And the glass as half full? It's overflowing! Current political ridiculousness has nothing on a Nero or Stalin... we've all been handed down the gift of literacy (regardless of our family's station in society) and can communicate - in an instant - all the way across the world... our loved ones - and we - are living and loving longer than ever... we have unprecedented opportunities for self-realized freedom - time/self-expression/etc.-wise. Perhaps humanity has never had it better!

 

As for the themes above: relationships, the ability to stay - and BE - ALIVE! (expanding ourselves and contributing to others), Internet-assisted connectivity... So, so much to be thankful for.

 

Lately I've been meditating on the ease of modern-day living if I just design my days - my life - with awareness. Yes, there is a lot I don't like (technological distraction, increasing isolationism, instigated fear - consumer capitalism...), but there is so much to celebrate, and most of us on here contain a synthesis of privileges that allows us to suck the marrow out of the blessed bone.

 

As a teenager, I remember waiting hours by the mailbox for Sally, our mail lady, to make it down all those winding, hilly dirt roads because I might - might! - have a letter from a friend on the way... Now I not only can punch this out at 80 words-a-minute (thanks, Mrs. Graber), but I then click a button and it's out there for all of you. And as for that stillness, that silence - especially that blissful boredom that I miss from the growing up years. I can choose all that too. And I do.

 

I'm gonna look out my windows to a stunning Manhattan view and ponder the brevity - the miracle - of life... and all the possibility presented within this perfectly limited stretch of time I inhabit. Now.

 

To a gratitude that instigates peace... and its spilling over into the everyday (and all night).

[+ sync]

You're welcome, guys - we post stuff as much for ourselves as for others, so the content may as well be uplifting.

 

And the glass as half full? It's overflowing! Current political ridiculousness has nothing on a Nero or Stalin... we've all been handed down the gift of literacy (regardless of our family's station in society) and can communicate - in an instant - all the way across the world... our loved ones - and we - are living and loving longer than ever... we have unprecedented opportunities for self-realized freedom - time/self-expression/etc.-wise. Perhaps humanity has never had it better!

 

As for the themes above: relationships, the ability to stay - and BE - ALIVE! (expanding ourselves and contributing to others), Internet-assisted connectivity... So, so much to be thankful for.

 

Lately I've been meditating on the ease of modern-day living if I just design my days - my life - with awareness. Yes, there is a lot I don't like (technological distraction, increasing isolationism, instigated fear - consumer capitalism...), but there is so much to celebrate, and most of us on here contain a synthesis of privileges that allows us to suck the marrow out of the blessed bone.

 

As a teenager, I remember waiting hours by the mailbox for Sally, our mail lady, to make it down all those winding, hilly dirt roads because I might - might! - have a letter from a friend on the way... Now I not only can punch this out at 80 words-a-minute (thanks, Mrs. Graber), but I then click a button and it's out there for all of you. And as for that stillness, that silence - especially that blissful boredom that I miss from the growing up years. I can choose all that too. And I do.

 

I'm gonna look out my windows to a stunning Manhattan view and ponder the brevity - the miracle - of life... and all the possibility presented within this perfectly limited stretch of time I inhabit. Now.

 

To a gratitude that instigates peace... and its spilling over into the everyday (and all night).

 

Waiter, I'll have what he's having.

[mike carey]

Waiter, I'll have what he's having.

From my reading, having what @SimplyAdam is having, or is offering, is a sensible way to go!

[+ sync]

From my reading, having what @SimplyAdam is having, or is offering, is a sensible way to go!

 

My take is that beyond having and offering it he is reminding us to be aware of it. So many times the forest is not seen for the trees.

[+ purplekow]

Most people, it seems to me, when asked for what they are most grateful, usually list the things we most take for granted and not the material things we appreciate on a daily basis. Even on this forum, where some like to flaunt their status, I doubt you will find anyone being truly grateful that they fly on private jets.

 

I am thankful that I have enough to eat, a shelter, a warm bed, good friends and my furry life travel companions, both canine and human. I am grateful that for me, despite the chaos that is forever being discussed, that my small corner is relatively calm and with a degree of order that allows me to feel relatively safe. I am especially grateful for my health after recently learning first hand that it can be gone in a wink of an eye. Lastly, I am grateful that someone reminded me today to consider all that I have for which I am truly grateful and truly blessed.

[BasketBaller]

I'm grateful for health, mine and my sons'.

I'm grateful for a job I enjoy that gives me a life that isn't lavish but is secure and comfortable.

I'm grateful for friends, both digital and analog, who support and entertain me.

I'm grateful for my boys' teachers and coaches who have helped me raise these young men who make my heart swell with pride and love.

I'm grateful for those who serve in the military or as first responders who sacrifice so much for the rest of us, and for my experience growing up in a military family.

I'm grateful for a sense of humor and perspective that has gotten me through a lot.

I'm grateful for the internet for allowing me access to sites like this where I can express things I can't elsewhere!�

[+ Truereview]

I'm grateful for the big & little things in life that often go unacknowledged. My top 10, in no particular order:

1. Capacity to love
   
2. Having a family (Pets included)
   
3. Good health
   
4. The value of nature
   
5. The joy of food
   
6. The possibility to exercise thoughtfulness & mindfulness
   
7. The opportunity to be courageous & forgiving
   
8. The chance at intimacy & friendship
   
9. Listening, writing, speaking - I wish I would do these more often in that order!
    
   
10. The capacity, again, for more love
    

Hmmm...maybe I should just be grateful to be a human today?

[mike carey]

Great list @Truereview, but as a single male some of them are difficult to claim. I love the list but I'm not sure they apply to me. That said, I don't resent others claiming them!

[+ Truereview]

Great list @Truereview, but as a single male some of them are difficult to claim. I love the list but I'm not sure they apply to me. That said, I don't resent others claiming them!

Id love to say I'm grateful for living in Australia; alas, I don't. I may even wish it more after November

Kidding aside, YES, darling man, great reminder that these lists are not meant to be universal. I'm grateful to have your wisdom as part of our collective.

[mike carey]

TR, you are such a nice guy, your praise of me is so sweet, but undeserved. I look forward to a chat and a drink in Punta!

[+ quoththeraven]

I'd like to add my gratitude for the opportunity to acknowledge and talk about queerness, bisexuality and kink in ways that wouldn't feel appropriate on my Livejournal, exceed Twitter limits (although I've retweeted a number of long threads about bisexuality and queerness written by others), and aren't appropriate or necessary in day-to-day life. Somehow, wearing a button that says 'I'm queer! Ask me how" doesn't strike me as helpful to beginning a dialog or combating stereotypes.

[+ purplekow]

I'd like to add my gratitude for the opportunity to acknowledge and talk about queerness, bisexuality and kink in ways that wouldn't feel appropriate on my Livejournal, exceed Twitter limits (although I've retweeted a number of long threads about bisexuality and queerness written by others), and aren't appropriate or necessary in day-to-day life. Somehow, wearing a button that says 'I'm queer! Ask me how" doesn't strike me as helpful to beginning a dialog or combating stereotypes.

I don't know, I kind of like the idea of wearing a button that says "I'm queer. Ask me how". I would want to wear another that says "I am peculiar. Ask me about Swiss Cheese."

[+ SimplyAdam]

Keep that gratefulness coming, guys and gal! How heartening...

 

I noticed Oliver Sacks' set of essays, Gratitude, written and published just before his passing last year, buried under other books on my nightstand, and vaguely remembered - then looked this gem up:

 

“My predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved. I have been given much and I have given something in return. Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”

 

Mr. Sacks' predominant art was the very life he lived, and in imparting upon us universal, individualized wisdom - the "knowing" is shown to be inextricably linked with a childlike sense of wonder.

 

It occurred to me recently that while with privilege comes responsibility, acting on the responsibility itself is the greater privilege!

 

Surely, Fortune smiles on us all.

[+ WmClarke]

I'm grateful for the internet for allowing me access to sites like this where I can express things I can't elsewhere!�

This times a million.

[+ SimplyAdam]

And one more share:

 

...Then this morning I read this, from E.B. White, “Most people think of peace as a state of Nothing Bad Happening, or Nothing Much Happening. Yet if peace is to overtake us and make us the gift of serenity and well-being, it will have to be the state of Something Good Happening.”

 

Optimism and Gratitude summon Peace...

 

Peace be upon you, gentlemen and lady.

[+ WmClarke]

Peace be upon you, gentlemen and lady.

And also upon you.