Practice Gratitude

Happy Birthday, Jim, for whom I am truly grateful. We understand intellectually that every day is a gift. We hear about living in the moment and being present for one another and for ourselves, but at this time of life we come to really “get it.” 

Six years ago we found our children and ourselves crowded into a hospital room sending Jim off to surgery for a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). They would let us know when he was put on and taken of the bypass machine. A quadruple, seems in cardiac rehab one is known by how many. I sat in the dark one night in his room, knitting an afghan/prayer shawl, loving but misshapen token of my affection for him and a self-soothing practice for my anxiety. I wanted to write an article, “Knitting in the dark and other coping strategies of the nurse wife of a CABG.”  Note to self: you have to keep your sense of humor.

And so now we are truly grateful. Robert Emmons’s book, How the new science of gratitude can make you happier, speaks to the health benefits of gratitude. A simple practice with profound results, starting or ending your day bringing to mind things for which you are grateful or keeping a gratitude journal can really bring you back to center.

So there is he is still standing, coffee in hand at a chuck wagon dinner after a buffalo safari by jeep. Here is the birthday card I made him which is sitting on the table where there is an Avengers happy birthday banner strung so  he can see it as soon as he gets up. Making special is part of what I do and have always done to honor those I love. Now I am grateful for each day I have to do that.

But notice the word, practice. This does take practice. I was on the phone with a big telephone company whose name I shall tastefully omit, after 4 times of them not getting it right, maybe demonstrating a tiny bit of frustration….when Jim says no need to let this make you angry and spoil your day. Now this is a reframe for him, my glass-half-empty kinda guy. We are helping each other shift our attitude, keep things in perspective…part of the Sage-ing journey to live in the now. And so, Happy Birthday, Jim, for whom I am truly grateful.

More:

 “Ten ways to become more grateful” from Emmons’s work at:

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/ten_ways_to_become_more_grateful1/  

To create a Word Cloud like Jim’s birthday card visit www.wordle.net