The Kinship of Gratitude

This past week my daughter Eva was home from college for spring break and along with a pile of dirty laundry, she brought with her a stomach bug that went through our family. Wednesday was my day. As I laid in bed miserable I was feeling quite sorry for myself. With bad stomach pain, a pounding headache and extreme fatigue I was even too sick to binge Netflix.

Before I got sick I had watched both my daughter and husband endure the intense but quick moving virus (my son Holden was the final holdout coming down with it this past weekend) so even through my misery I kept coming back to the knowledge that it was very temporary.  There was comfort in that and and I found myself connecting to thoughts of gratitude.  Gratitude that I was just sick for a day or two, and a recognition that so many people battling illness feel this way (and worse) for extended periods of time. I have watched loved ones go through months of sickness, fighting for their health. How could I wallow in self pity over one or two days? 

Therefore, two days later, feeling well enough to teach my class, I connected even more deeply to gratitude. I shared with my students the passage below; parts of which (bolded below) came to me during my day in bed. A stomach bug definitely is not something any of us view as a positive experience but it was good gratitude practice for me. On the mat and in our lives… no matter what is going on… we can always touch gratitude; and the more we do, the more powerful we become at cultivating joy. 

The Kinship of Gratitude– Mark Nepo

The goal of all experience is to remove whatever might keep us from being whole. The things we learn through love and pain reduce our walls and bring our inner and outer life together, and all the while the friction of being alive erodes whatever impediments remain.

But the simplest and deepest way to make who we are at one with the world is through the kinship of gratitude. Nothing brings the worlds of spirit and earth together more quickly. To be grateful means giving thanks for more than just the things we want, but also for the things that surmount our pride and stubbornness. Sometimes the things I’ve wanted and worked for, if I actually received them, would have crushed me.

Sometimes just giving thanks for the mystery of it all brings everything and everyone closer, the way suction pulls streams of water together. So take a chance and openly give thanks, even if you’re not sure what for, and feel the plentitude of all that is living brush up against your heart.