A Plethora of “P” Words
Some words are just more fun to say and to consider. Plethora is one of those words for me. It came naturally as I considered a growing list of words that start with “P” as I continue on my grateful way through the alphabet.
I will start and finish with this one letter today, since there is plenty to ponder in words like pause, patience, progress, practice, presence, and peace.
Pausing is such a key practice for me. For an overthinker and overdoer, pausing does not come easily or naturally. It has to be taught. I first started to learn about what a pause can do when I began keeping a gratitude journal 28 years ago this month.
One must be present in the here and now to take note of what one is grateful for in the here and now. A pause to look around, or step outside, or focus on one or more senses, or to consider who has been kind and helpful to me recently, or to marvel at the breath moving through my body are all pauses that helped me start to slow down and begin to see myself and the world around me with a healthier perspective. Less harshness and lack, more gentle and generous.
Practice makes progress possible. Because my default mode of thinking was one of self-pity and “never enough,” and laced with plenty of “all or nothing” thinking as well, it has taken plenty of time and effort to retrain and reroute my brain to new pathways. I consider it good work and I plan to continue for the rest of my life.
This work goes hand-in-hand with my recovery from alcoholism, and it extends to every area of life, day to day. I have had periods of growth and periods of stagnation. Here in my fifties, I really got stuck in the muck and mire of midlife and had to bring new focus to the practices that help me remember “a thought is just a thought” and that silence is such a good teacher.
With practice and patience, presence and peace come. Practicing gratitude and meditation doesn’t prevent all pain and suffering in my life. Those are part of the human condition. To be alive is to love and to lose, to experience joy and heartache. On the days I am more present and less cluttered, peace is always possible, regardless of current circumstances. And where there is peace, the next actions I take and words I use tend to be more constructive to all I interact with and to me.
Presence and patience, practiced regularly, provide resilience and generate the energy to not only move through the challenges, but to rejoice in the abundance. Take this plethora of “p” words into your own day and see what you find. Onward!
