The Practice Of Gratitude

Gratitude is a practice.
Much like yoga, and meditation.
Practice that does not 'makes perfect' (Ah such a horrible sentiment, isn't it?) but rather it is a practice that one visits daily/often and every time the experience will be different. Not better. Just different.  Practice where we meet the present moment.
A practice that is circular, or horizontal. Rather than linear. Practice isn't a ladder to climb on and get 'better' at, but rather it's a vast ocean and when we practice we meet ourselves in the ocean wherever it meets us that day. 

The practice is gratitude, or rather 'being grateful' is exactly that. 
Some days, we can be grateful for the food on our plate, the rooftop over our heads, the new phone we got for Christmas, or the new sale on our favorite fashion brand.
We can be grateful for the people in our lives, our loved ones, and how well they are doing, and how much we are grateful to have them in our lives.
And we can also be grateful for existence, without relation to us: For the world to keep ticking, for animals to flourish, for nature to persist. We can be grateful for butterflies, for arts, for oceans and weather. We can be grateful for the lessons we go through, the growth that occurs in us, the mirror others put for us to see ourselves even when it hurts. In the practice of gratitude, we often pivot from being grateful for things or people or ourselves, to being grateful for existing and for existence of all things. 

Today I am grateful for:
1. My engine that works: the BODY in all its hiccups and its glory. That every bone is intact and thriving, every blood vessel is miraculous, and every inch of flesh that is there to protect me and itself.
2. The time I have to create, to tell stories, to bond with my muses. I am aware that many don't have the luxury of time at their disposal like I do. 
3. Mother nature that is resilient despite humans' interference. We may not survive our own destruction. But she will. Her resilience is ever lasting, while us humans - are fickle. 
4. Remembering that none matters and all matters. That the point to life may be none other than to embrace the notion that there is no point. So why indulge in fear and separation? 
5. People. People. People. As much as I adore my time alone - the vast array of people in all their differences makes life fuller, richer, more complex and imaginative than my wildest dreams. Because dreams are my own. But people - people are THEIR own. 

What are you grateful for?
And remember, practice *does not* makes perfect. But rather - practice makes sense. Quite literally, I might add.