Gratitude

Imagine an old woman.
She smiles constantly.
As she enters her kitchen she greets the family.
No one answers back.

As she cooks she tells her children how smart and successful they are.
Both grand and great.
Shares the hopes she holds for a life of health and happiness.
Wishes of protections and preventions.

The taste of boiling, salted water touches her tongue.
Yet only sweet nothings pour from her mouth.

The way she rubbed a tiny hand through the bars of the crib to help you fall asleep.
Or when she reached for a diaper too late and laughed as the wall wetted.
The time her handsome, virile husband flew over oceans to spend the year with you.
And how her heart bursts with joy each time you visit and aches with longing once you’re gone again.

The food she prepares changes form, but her love is constant.
She shares the meal and washes the dishes.
As she leaves the kitchen she kisses her hand and places it on each of the photographs.
Her overflowing heart ready for tomorrow.

This is one of my grandmother’s gratitude rituals. Not a day goes by that those pictures of her grand and great-grand -children do not receive her radiance.
The first time I noticed this habit I thought she was talking to herself in the kitchen.
Followed by — my grandmother is losing her mind.

Fortunately, she is simply expressing her appreciation for the ones she loves. She is being grateful.
This may be part of the reason why, at 92, she continues to smile and laugh through the hardships of age.

It is very easy to find countless articles and research projects explaining why gratitude is such a useful tool in daily life.
Gratitude helps us focus on positive emotions and step away from the grips of negative ones.
These positive thoughts begin to encourage the body to rest more peacefully and turn down inflammation processes.
Gratitude grows the desire to physically exercise. It gears the mind toward optimism.
It’s a pro-social behavior and helps to connect us.

Best of all, gratitude is cyclical — receiving gratitude is just as important as giving it.

We tend to bring up gratitude when faced with the holidays. And slowly it fades amongst the stresses of the year.

Like Valentine’s Day or Sweetest Day, or t-shirts that read Just Be Nice — by not making these important gestures daily habits we’re ignoring something perpetually useful and good.

We’re ignoring who we want to be for the many distractions daily life may offer.

Next time something someone is wearing catches your eye, compliment them.

Say Please and Thank You even if it seems redundant or tedious.

Keep a journal of all the many different things you are grateful for and go out into the world with a desire to keep adding to the list.

I enjoy a morning gratitude ritual to begin each day:

As my eyes open I begin to thank the Sun for the warmth I will feel from it.
I thank the Earth for the softness of its soil and the smells in the air.
I take a deep breath and thank my body for its willingness to work hard and be cared for.

And I thank my grandmother for keeping me close, even when we’re oceans apart.