After I wrote my first Saturday Gratitude post last week, I noticed how my attention shifted ever so slightly over the following days from what I was lacking to what is here already. And it’s funny how much more clear my choices and focus become when I am not in that panicky, lack-filled place.
It’s also so interesting to notice that, often, I don’t need nearly as much as I think I do. My needs only seem enormous when I am in that place of lack, and assuming that it is reality.
Then yesterday I happened to run across a Martha Beck piece on Oprah’s website where Martha mentioned that research shows that it is impossible to experience appreciation and fear at the same time. Yes! I noticed that so often this week.
So here is my Saturday Gratitude list for today — three things I am grateful for as this week draws to a close. We’ll see how today’s focus on gratitude shapes the coming week! And I’d love it if you’d join me in my experiment, if that feels good to you!
1) Writing in warmth. After last week’s computer crash, I finally have a new computer up and running, and because it’s a laptop, I can write anywhere in the house instead of sitting in my rather-cold office, which, truth be told, I had been feeling less and less inclined to do. This is kind of perfect, I realize, because I have been needing to approach my writing with warmer energy — more safety, more permission, more “it’s okay to be exactly where you are with this writing. It’s okay to let it be what it is, nothing more, nothing less.”
2) Recognizing when it was time for me to get offline, particularly off Facebook, and following up on that awareness by — getting offline! And how incredibly grounding and replenishing that turned out to be. As wonderful as the online world can be, as I stayed unplugged for a good while yesterday, I felt the remembrance that there is so much here, in the physical world, and in my own inner world. And it is good, and rich, and nourishing. With nothing else added.
3) Noticing old patterns coming up for me, and then noticing the thought that I shouldn’t be still doing this! Not after all these years. And then (here’s the part I’m truly grateful for), recognizing that, yes, the patterns are still here, but the way I interact with them, the way I deal with them, is much, much different than it was ten years ago. Or even five. And that, to me, is some kind of miracle.
Want to share yours? What are you grateful for this week?
the artist's nest 
I love your gratitude list, Jill, and could definitely relate to them. I love having a laptop and taking it wherever I’d like to write at a particular time. It is not unusual for me to crawl into bed and pull up the cover and use a lap desk to write deep and scary stuff. I used to feel guilty about it, but no more. I know that it is gentle self-care and there is never anything wrong with that!
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I love that, Mary. It’s so important to create comfort and safety for ourselves when writing the tough stuff! Now that I have a laptop, I may try your method of writing with the covers pulled up around me. 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing!
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Yes, Jill, being able to work on writing in different places, especially warm places, is really good. Now you have to go to a coffee shop and join the throngs on their computers. I do most of my writing on my bed, or in my bed, usually sitting on a bolster cross-legged, so I’m in a good meditative posture. I feel safe there and have a panoramic view of the San Francisco Bay and San Francisco, when I look up from the screen.
1. I am grateful my friend is back in the hospital where her pain can be controlled.
2. I’m grateful I made it to Santa Fe despite a bad night before.
3. I’m grateful I am sitting in bed writing with no one in the house for an hour here in Santa Fe.
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Fredrica, it’s so interesting that both you and Mary write in bed! It makes sense — it’s a safe, comforting space. I’ve done journaling there but not fiction. And what a great view you have, too! I love your gratitude list. Thank you for sharing and for joining me today. 🙂
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