Living Within Reality

When my eyes fill with wonder and my heart with love or joy, I do not betray my concerns for the world—

I nourish my capacity to attend to them.

-Kristi Nelson-

Wonder. Love. Joy. Nourish. Capacity to attend. I appreciate the way Kristi Nelson reminds us that, even in times of difficulty, maybe especially then, we can still find deep meaning and profoundly enriching emotional connections. Walking a path that has both pleasures and pains is unavoidable. Running from it doesn’t work, but walking with a grateful heart does. The path remains clear if we keep moving forward, pause for rest, continue.

In those pauses we can find wonder, love and joy. It may simply be the cool breeze on our faces, or the tiny blossom that wasn’t there yesterday but has just arrived this morning. Or the flow of compassion we feel for the person we are walking next to but have failed to fully see in recent times.

Suffering is ever-present. Joy is ever-present. They are here together and always will be.

So how will you live within this reality?

-Joe Primo-

How will you live within this reality? How do I strive to live within this reality? By leaning into the lessons that come with loss and grief. By appreciating what I already have, and often take for granted—air to breathe, water to drink, a beating heart. By attending to what matters, not what is trying to steal my time and energy. With faith, listening ears and heart, and times of rest. With the wisdom that six decades of living have shown me.

For the second half of my life, I have brought a grateful perspective to what is in front of me, all around me, and within me. Living gratefully has transformed my perception of self, others, and surrounding world. Not all day, every day, but enough to impact me profoundly. Gratitude is a noun, and a starting point. Living gratefully is an active practice.

Sometimes that action is going for a run down a beautiful stretch of trail in the community where I live. Sometimes it is sitting and looking at the clouds. Sometimes it is noticing the person behind me and holding the door for them. Some would say this is all selfish. I believe it is anything but selfish. It is about connecting with others and life, about generating helpful energy for the common good.

These two quotes are from the Word for the Day at Grateful Living. They just happen to be from the previous Executive Director (Kristi Nelson) and the current Executive Director (Joe Primo) of this global network first envisioned by Brother David Steindl-Rast.

I encourage you to explore the website and also ways to bring more active grateful living to your own hours and to our world. I encourage you to sit for a few moments and consider the two quotes above a little longer. Consider the gifts in today. Brother David talks about the opportunities we have. What are yours today?

Today’s picture speaks to the joys and the troubles that clarify our existence. The fragrant lilac blossoms and the gathering storm clouds. The blue sky beyond is always there and grounds us to the present moment. The present moment. The only place we can fully be.