Word for the Day  Gratefulness draws on the best of the human spirit in all of us.  It renews and refreshes us, and best of all it is contagious.  -Amy Edelstein-  This is officially my last habitual post here on Habitual Gratitude. You can still find me blogging on my new website A Late Bloomer Living Gratefully. This blog won’t be gone. Hanging out on the world wide web, I will be revisiting it and inviting readers to keep checking out the other 2,820 posts that reside here.  It was time for a change though. Learning a new platform is challenging and full of fea ..read more

Today I am grateful for health care workers who keep serving and scientists who keep researching. Their tenacious efforts over these two years of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be understated. I am grateful for my own continued health and for perspective. Two years ago this weekend, my part of the world was really beginning to feel the huge impact that the pandemic was about to have on our daily lives.  I wrote 19 Gratitudes to Counter COVID-19 then. As I read it now, these words grab me: It has been crazy, uncharted territory we have found ourselves in. For those of us living in the U ..read more

 "Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid of standing still."  -Chinese Proverb- This quote caught my attention today because I often refer to myself as a slow learner and a late bloomer. It was fitting for me to weave that in to my new website's name "A Late Bloomer Living Gratefully."  When I first started in recovery, people talked about how alcoholics stop growing emotionally when they start drinking.  I believe there is plenty of truth in that. I started drinking at 14 and stopped at 24. Ten years, and a crucial ten years in a young person's development.  ..read more

"Let come what comes, let go what goes. See what remains." -Ramana Maharshi- Letting go can be so hard, and so necessary. It's a daily process for me, and one I will never perfect. Yet, in the practice of letting go, the rewards come. Unburdening. Clarifying. Releasing. All these and more help me maintain energy for what truly matters and where I can truly make a difference: the thoughts and actions I choose.  Hanging on depletes and drains, whether it is regret, changing bodies, evolving relationships, unhealthy perceptions or wrong-sized ego. Let go. Let go or be dragged. Letting go is ..read more

Living gratefully today, I am in awe of cells and the jobs they do. I am appreciating the courage and faith that continue to be developing in my life here in my late fifties. First, about those cells, another random indication like those I mentioned in yesterday's post.  There are a couple of housing developments going up in our part of town. I like to see the progress. As I ran on Saturday, it got me thinking about new construction on the cellular level. Did you know that our bodies replace somewhere around 330 billion cells each day, mostly blood cells and those in our intestines? Amazi ..read more

Living gratefully today, I rest in appreciation of daily recovery from alcoholism, the peace in family time together, and the endorphins a nice run in the rain brought me yesterday. I give thanks for random indications that every day is full of reminders and of good. Here are some: 1. A bathroom break while out doing some grocery and stock up shopping gave me the view of an empty vodka pint in the trash can in the stall I used. I wondered what story went with that bottle. My story had I been the one drinking it? Ugly.  2. A toddler in her boots zig-zagging down the trail in front of her m ..read more

Word for the Day  There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it. -Gustave Flaubert- Thursdays are garbage and recycling pickup days in our neighborhood. As I left my house yesterday morning and backed my car out of the garage, the garbage and recycling trucks came one after the other to unload our two receptacles.  I was blocked in briefly, on my way to an early meeting, with a little time to spare. It all probably took less than a minute. It was a good pause and brought a smile to my face. In my meditation time earlier, inspired by a conversation with and sugg ..read more

Today I am grateful for the safe travels we-students, chaperones, and bus driver-had on our recent Civil Rights Trip. I appreciate all who helped guide us on our various tours, sharing their passion and their stories.  The history of the Civil Rights Movement is heavy with struggle, setbacks, hatred, and tragedies. It is also uplifted by the amazing courage, faith, and perseverance of those who kept risking their lives for what matters most.  We saw historic places. Stood on sacred ground. We read, listened, viewed many exhibits, videos, and photos that tell a story in intricate de ..read more

Today I am grateful for the opportunity to be a chaperone on a Civil Rights trip with students and two other chaperones. I appreciate that the pandemic is at a place where these trips are possible again. Thank you to the scientists who developed the vaccines which are a big reason why our trip is a go. The 8th graders going on the trip have already studied the Holocaust and will soon be discussing the Civil Rights Movement with classmates. I taught high school social studies myself for ten years, with not a lot of time spent on any one historical theme, including this one. I knew a little then ..read more

Living gratefully today, I appreciate the quiet, and the gentle sounds my ears are allowing me to hear. I also appreciate the clementines I have been enjoying and all who helped bring them to me. When an opportunity came up to create written word to honor Black History Month at my school, I set to work. The inspiration for any and all art, all students and staff invited to participate, was this quote from Desmond Tutu: "My humanity is bound up in yours. For we can only be human together." I am still coming to understand my white privilege and I also know what marginalization feels like ..read more