Appreciating my way back...

Testing my voice after the election

The results knocked me hard, too; I really really really didn’t want this to happen. To be honest, I’m not sure I have the strength to go through the 2.0 version of this guy and his patriarchy posse. That “Here we go again” dread — it’s been intense and consuming — relentless.

Gratitude: The practice that reliably saves me from my miseries.

Eventually, I remembered the thing that’s fundamentally changed me and saved me from my miseries more than once: Gratitude.

I’ve been struggling too; deep in my feelings and fears about current events. I’m tired of feeling victimized, combative, and scared. And of believing I am or should be.

I’m ready to risk stepping out of the constriction and tension I’ve been in. It’s stifled my writing and creative work long enough! (Although I’m also grateful for keeping my mouth shut — mostly — when I’m that off balance, and to strive to avoid making things worse by spewing even more negativity.)

I don’t like myself when I get stuck in Eeyore mode, you know that place where you forget that the sun is still shining behind the clouds. Even now, even if, no matter what. 

When I remember this, I remember that peace, agency, and calm are always within reach. All I have to do is allow, to choose, the light even when I’m seeing darkness.

One of the best ways I know to remind myself that happiness is always on tap is to get grateful. Today was an exceptionally good day to pull out the Fierce Gratitude journal I published last year (and that you can buy today; makes a great gift) and write a list that makes the reframe possible.  

I spent decades writing daily gratitude lists, so I can vouch for how transformational the practice can be. You’ll see my deep respect for the power of appreciation in how I titled the book:

This gratitude practice goes deep. I’m noticing some shocking thoughts penetrating through the agony: like the idea that the people I’ve been hating and railing against are made of the same stuff I am... 

I know, crazy, right? Soften the good/bad, them/us dichotomy? See the humanity? What the what?

I remember a teaching I heard in meditation class right after the election, and which really stuck with me, from Rabbi Yael Levy:

Life keeps swirling by
A tangled, messy web of experience
The tugging of bonds and allegiances
The struggle for peace
The wreckage of violence
The pain of loving
The swirling web of experience that asks of us — everything.

Maybe part of the everything life asks of us is to see beyond the boundaries of right and wrong, of us and them. What would change if we all leaned into gratitude today?

Let’s talk about it.

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