Grateful for the promise of easy joy

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GRATITUDE - warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; very thankful. [Gratitude week begins here.Click for this week's Bliss Initiatives.]


I have been having the best time with my Gratitude week. It has been really fun thinking about all the things for which I am Grateful. There is a lot. I really am blessed. However as I focus in on how many things are so terrific in my life it gives me considerable pause to wonder how it is that I am so gosh darn lucky. As gallons of oil continue to spew in the gulf, another teenager has committed suicide because of bullying, one billion people go hungry each day and dozens of animals are on the brink of extinction I wonder how is it that I get to live my privileged little life?

Brown Pelican awaiting help to remove oil from feathers

Image from Washington Post

The catastrophic effects of the oil spill will barely effect me on a day to day basis. No one in my family lives along the gulf shore so none of us will lose our livelihood. There may be less gulf fish in my local supermarket but I live in a country with a plentiful food supply and distribution resources. Gulf fish will be replaced by something else. I will be haunted by photos of struggling pelicans but I will not have to see first hand dozens struggling for their last breath as many volunteers and clean up workers will. 


Devastation touches me only if I let it in. When it becomes too much I can change a TV channel, surf a different spot in the internet or read a children's book to my child.  Millions of people and species around the world do not have the same luxury as I do. They can not turn off the heart ache and terrifying reality in which they live. 


When considering grand human psyche I can not help but think we are all affected by the tragedy but I can push my connection to that horror aside with my idyllic walks in beautiful countryside, gourmet meals lovingly prepared by my Sweetie, easy access to drinking water as well as a roof over my head that is cool in summer and warm in winter. I am never required to suffer even slight inconveniences for more then a few minutes. 


For this privilege I can certainly be grateful but gratitude feels hardly enough. It is mind-blowing overwhelming when I allow myself to get present to all of it. All the shouting and leaping for joy I have been enjoying this week is small compared to the thanks I could be pouring from my heart. I am lucky, so very lucky to have days that promise so much easy joy.  


How about you? How lucky and/or grateful do you feel?


Please add your Grateful Links to the Gratitude Hop and don't forget to share your gratitude to help a needy family win a pig!


Next post: The close of Gratitude week

My 13 bliss virtues are joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, and surprise.



This week we are studying Gratitude. Next up is Moxie Week.