I was reflecting some more on the Zen Habits post about gratitude that I linked to yesterday.
Two gratitude meditations later, and I realise how very much I have to be thankful for: a belief in God (however I might think of God, and however many questions I may ask), a love of creation, people and animals I love and who love me, a warm home, enough money, reasonable health, intelligence, a sense of humour. And so much more.
Yesterday I had a day’s vacation to catch up with some things I needed to do and afterwards I was pottering about my house. (One of my favourite activities, pottering. A friend refers to it as “Having a Harry”. Potter, Harry – geddit?)
Objects started catching my eye and I realised how much sheer uncomplicated delight I get from some of the quirky and random objects I own. Not counting books, wall art and plants, I’ve collected and been given some really special little objects over the years. Nothing expensive, precious in another sense.
Now I’ve started thinking of them in the context of gratitude, they’ll always remind me how much I have to be thankful for. So I gathered some of them together and got out my camera.
You can see the results on my Flickr photoset Objects of Delight.
I’m away now for a couple of days, so see you all on Sunday.
And by the way I know this will sound unbearable cheesy, but I’m extremely grateful also to those of you who read this blog, and who comment on it. Thank you.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Maya 09.14.07 at 2:15 pm
Those are so cute. The Buddha’s head DOES look very peaceful. That cow teapot is hysterical.
Barney 09.14.07 at 8:02 pm
It’s sad how difficult gratitude is for us now in our materialistic society. For too many people the default attitude is one of “you owe me; why would I be grateful when it’s your job to give me service?”
A good twenty years ago, my wife and I took our children for a trip to the USA. One night we stayed in a Best Western Hotel somewhere in Virginia. When we came down for breakfast in the morning, the tables had not been cleared and there was no sign of anyone to serve us. After we had sat for a while, I got up and went into the kitchen. There I found a waitress smoking. I was furious and bawled her out. She explained that there should be two of them on the morning shift, but the other server hadn’t turned up and she couldn’t do anything by herself.
Fulminating I returned to the table, not at all mollified. As I was having a rant to my wife, someone came up behind me and poured coffee into my cup. Grumpily I said, “About time.”
My wife kicked my shin under the table. She had noticed what I had failed to observe – that the person who had served us coffee was actually one of the other guests doing an act of service.
Even today I blush when I think of my ingratitude to a fellow human being who, instead of complaining, had done something positive to rectify the situation for everyone.
The Baha’i prayer book is full of prayers of praise for the Lord. Boy do I need to embrace and sing out those prayers of gratitude!
lucy 09.15.07 at 3:15 pm
love seeing your “objects of delight.” the “cheesy” gratitude is mutual. so glad you are a part of my life!
hope you have a fabulous, restful weekend!
Tess 09.16.07 at 4:39 pm
Thank you all, and Maya I had a feeling you’d appreciate my cow!
Barney – thank you for sharing this story. Oh dear… But at least you can be grateful to this person not only for the coffee but for the lesson, which has clearly stuck!