Month: August 2021

There is a wonderful book I like to read in small chunks because it is so potent. It is “Wake Up Grateful–The Transformative Practice of Taking Nothing for Granted,” by Kristi Nelson. She is the executive director of A Network for Grateful Living, which you can find at www.gratefulness.org. She writes:

“All the while, the great fullness of life with all its unanswerable questions, unexpected opportunities, and startling surprises carries on, inviting us to embrace not knowing and slide into the river of greater release and trust.”

I love that — “slide into the river of greater release and trust.”

One of my favorite prayers is, “Grant me, oh God, the blazing fire of faith to be the polestar of my life.” I thirstily gulp the KoolAid of faith, faith in a Higher Power, in the Divine Mystery of life and existence, of Being. I am alive. We are alive together, embracing this mystery. We don’t need to have all of the answers. We can let go of needing to know what comes next.

What would it be like to live life with no expectations but to humbly accept what comes our way with surprise?

And what if what comes our way is tragedy and sadness? Can we keep our hearts open even to that?

That is why I am here, why I built this blog so that we can do that together. Life certainly has its hardships and its joys. Can we not experience them in community, together, not alone?

I hold you in my heart with blessings and joy.

Gratefulness washes over me at odd times. I was standing at the kitchen sink looking out the window at my neighbor’s car, and suddenly gratefulness flooded me — that I was standing, that I could see this silver Ford sedan, that the sun was shining, that the leaves hanging over the carport were shaking in the breeze, that I could breathe, that I was alive!

I love these sudden intense feelings of gratitude that take me by surprise for the simplest of things.

And then there is you, complex and wonderful. I am grateful for you.

Much love,

Polly

The Possibility of Possibility

Cultivating presence helps me feel grounded. Perspective helps me feel more grace, and more grateful. Regaining a sense of possibility flows readily from these states and actually happen in short measure. But it is such a pleasure to pause for presence and perspective that I usually try to take my time.

The practice of grateful living is an end in itself.

Wake Up Grateful–The Transformative Practice of Taking Nothing for Granted, by Kristi Nelson