Today (and yesterday) the temps here in the frigid Midwest finally made it above 32°. It feels like flying, like being let out of jail, passing go and collecting $200!! In October, 45° felt like a sub-Arctic experience. Today, it feels like shorts & flip-flops ;)
Which goes to show, perspective is a beautiful thing when we are mindful of it. Today, I am grateful for 45°, October - not so much! This is why gratitude is such a grounding, mindful practice. Shifting your frame of reference even just a micro-degree can give you a whole new way of looking at a thought, situation or feeling. I'm not an advocate for a Pollyanna worldview. I am, however, an advocate for finding the lesson in the inevitable negativity that plagues us in a fear-based media and political system. We can overcome them - by mindfully asking ourselves to get in touch with what's really going on, examining it and then releasing it. Since things only last for a fleeting moment, having the perspective that things are temporary (if not illusory) can keep you centered, grounded and present.
SO, for today's PRACTICE, I ask you to look outside the closest window (even if you have to get up to go find one), look at the first thing you see and express gratitude and thanks toward it. (GRATITUDE is a feeling you have, THANKS is expressing that gratitude to yourself, the people and things in your life or your view of the moment. So, for all my beloved grammar geeks, gratitude is a noun & thanks is a verb). Breathe in as you scan the landscape seeing all the amazing things we sometimes don't pay attention to - one leaf still clinging to the maple tree, a patch of grass peeking through the snow, a robin - OMGosh, A ROBIN!!! If you live in the Midwest or the Northeast, I have a feeling being grateful for the springtime will take on new dimensions this year - and for that we can be grateful for a long, cold, snowy winter! That's PROGRESS people & it's happening NOW.
