It’s Gratitude MONTH!

Hi.

I know.

It’s been awhile.

How’ve you been? Did you think I just disappeared? Sometimes it felt like it. It’s actually been a month since I blogged. I can’t believe it.

And I’m sorry.

Although there are only about ten people who read my blog, I’ve actually heard from quite a few of you asking what’s wrong and when I’m going to blog again. I’m really trying to get motivated.

October was tough. It’s one of my favorite months and it seemed to be very busy and it also seemed to go very fast. AND it seemed that every time I opened this page I couldn’t bring myself to write anything. Is that writer’s block? Well, it happens and I’m going to cut myself some slack and let it be okay. I have a few drafts in the works and a new idea. A November-centric idea.

The idea is about how to be a better blogger. At least for this month. Next month will probably present new problems. But this month is a whole month that we focus on gratitude. I mean…!!!!!!!!!

So today, it’s just five things I’m grateful for. I encourage you to write down your five. I thought, originally, that I’d post ten. That seemed like a lot of work. So, while I’m cutting myself some slack I’ll just focus on five. I think it’s important to be okay with your limitations. And I actually mean that. We’re heading into the land of “this year will be better than last year” and “our party is going to be the best ever” and of course, “I’ll prove/show everyone/grandma/mom/auntX that I know how to celebrate the season”. We’re heading into the season of expectations and I’m inviting you all to let it go.  Just be happy. Be happy with five today.

So, here goes. Five things I’m grateful for Today.

1. My Flexible Schedule-that allows me to mop my floor in the middle of the day and have a beer with lunch.

2. Social Media-today I’ve reconnected with some old friends, twittered a go-go and blogged. 20 years ago I would have been sitting here alone mopping my floor.

3. Fall. I’m enjoying the colors. the temps, the sun blazing and even the soppy rainy days. Isn’t fall the soppiest time for rain? All that aside, it really is the best time of year.

4. My New Phone. I know, I shouldn’t love an inanimate object, but as I’ve blogged I’m not one of the tech elite. It doesn’t  take much to make me happy. My phone lets me watch tv!!!!!! I don’t own a tv and I don’t want one on all day, but I like a little NCIS every once in awhile. My phone is also a Mp3 player, although I don’t use that function. It let’s me post on FB and Twitter. It’s really more kind to me than anyone I know.

5. My Students. Really, I know I’m getting cheezier and cheezier, but I have the best students. They let me slack when I’m feeling a slump, they challenge me to get out of my slump, they praise me and love me and help me feel inspired. They’re better than my kids who have taken to yelling at me and snubbing me. I honestly have the best students ever.

Wow! Again with the cheeze, but I feel better. I feel like I could possibly blog tomorrow. I feel like maybe I’ll look forward to it because this made me feel great. Try it. Write them down. Try writing down just one or two things you’re grateful for today. If you’re as ambitious as I am try five. And better yet, if you’re ready to tackle the world try 10.

I’m trying to slip this blog into a more yoga thematic blog and really, this is all about yoga. Gratitude is a yogic principal. One day I’ll blog again about family and I’ll put it up on Mamapedia.com. Cause y’know they asked me. And I’ve been struggling with how to focus blogging and Mampedia.com helped me.

I’ll let you know when I post more pictures of George’s injuries and perhaps Lucy will even let me take a picture of her that I can post someday.

Really, I guess I’m trying to say thank you. Thanks for letting me slack and loving me nonetheless. Thank you for coming here time after time and believing the promises I make.

Five things. That’s all it takes to have a better day.

A New Path?

Today I’m grateful and what do you know, it’s Wednesday. It’s funny how that works and not necessarily a coincidence.  The theory behind being

grateful is twofold. Being grateful teaches us to appreciate all that we have, to look at the little things as well as the big things and to learn that the pain that may be now will pass and we will move back into a grateful state once again. And actually that sentence in itself brings up more than two issues, but I’m moving on anyway.

The other aspect is that when we put out good energy in the form of our gratefulness then it comes back to us. We are telling the universe/god/goddess/buddha that we like these good things and we are rewarded with more of it (I use the term rewarded very loosely). Well there’s a theory

Someone Saw Me

A little while ago I got an email from an old friend.  We’ve been emailing and chatting on Facebook for a few months now. We’re rekindling a friendship. The email was about observations from 20 years back. It was about things I had forgotten. It was about a me I didn’t know anymore. It was exhilarating and wonderful and exciting.

The most wonderful thing about FB is that people keep coming back. They keep reminding me of lost times and a person I used to be. They remind me and they help me keep my past vivid and tangible.

Slumping Towards Gratitude

Okay, well it’s Wednesday again and I’m supposed to be focusing on gratitude. And I’m just not feeling it. My neck hurts-I’m not sure why, my tummy is mildly upset and I’m feeling pretty down. Basically I’m feeling more broken than usual. I’m feeling sad and overwhelmed and lost all at the same time. Not a great time to focus on gratitude.

Except. It’s the perfect time to focus on gratitude. I may whine and kick and scream getting there, but gratitude is one of the most powerful mindfulness practices. The Buddha called cultivating mindfulness “gladdening of the heart”. By counting our blessings we see our lives fully and not just the part that is most pressing to our minds right now. So it is exactly what is called for here. Because I could sure use some heart gladdening today.

The simple act of giving thanks and being mindful of your life helps shift your perspective. Phillip Moffitt, Buddhist and meditation teacher says that gratitude helps you have direct connection to your life. It helps you be present with the story that is your life and when you step back and look at where you’ve been and how far you’ve come with all the ups and downs you realize how much you have to be thankful for. And, perhaps more importantly, you realize that while your present difficulties are very real they are fleeting. 

Ultimately gratitude helps us lose our attachment. This precept in yoga is called aparigraha and translates to non-hoarding or non-grasping. As yogis we work to release our attachment to things, to our ego’s need for defining ourselves finitely and our fear of change.  Gratitude helps us understand the impermanence of life. We start to see that we are ever-changing, ever-growing and slowly, SLOWLY we start to let go of our need to keep things the same.

Now, I’m not saying that you can’t have things. People seem to get very touchy about this one. You can have things, what we want to lose is the feeling that our things somehow define us. How can you work on this? Gratitude. Funny how it keeps popping up right? By being grateful and understanding the big picture we begin to lose the feeling that we somehow deserve our things, that they help create our personas or that they make us better than our neighbors. Things become just things.

So how is that going to help me feel better today? Frankly, it already has. I know it sounds silly or trite, but just writing this has helped a whole lot. I do remember that this too shall pass. And for that I’m grateful. I’m remembering how much I like to write and I’m getting to do that and I’m thankful. I love the practice of yoga, ALL of it. I love the asanas, the pose, but I love the spiritual teachings and I love being able to teach them. I am finally at an age in my life where I understand that we take what’s in front of us, make it our own, and pass it back to the world. And it is what it is. I’m not a better or worse yoga teacher than anyone else out there. I’m just Melissa, the yoga teacher. Some people really respond to how I see it and spit it back and some people will move on and find someone else who they connect with. And that’s good. I’m grateful for the opportunity of being able to find connection. I’m grateful for being able to teach. I’m grateful that I have a partner who supports me an encourages me to teach yoga.

Basically, I’m a pretty lucky woman. My life is filled with the ups and downs that everyone has, sometimes a few more downs. But I also know that the downs are where I find growth. The down times help me learn and help me develop spiritually. 

And what have I learned? I’ve learned that I’m strong and I’m capable and that I will do better than survive. I’ve been through a lot and there is nothing I can’t handle. And for that I’m grateful.

Next week I’ll try to approach it with more enthusiasm. Feel free to share what you’re grateful for.