Saturday, May 24, 2014

A CONTAINER OF GRATITUDE CREATES SPACE FOR CELEBRATION (my 100th post)



I am realizing that whenever I choose to write my celebrations for Ruth’s link, I put celebration and gratitude together.  What I celebrate is where I am grateful.  The two are inseparable for me when celebration is easy to name.  Although, when celebration is a bit more elusive, gratitude is even more present.

Reasons to celebrate have been harder for me to find lately.  The wedding of nearly a month ago looms close to my mind and celebrating my daughter’s new beginning is ever present.  Yet other family sadnesses ring more loudly right now than the celebratory marriage bells.  The sadness has flattened me and made getting up out of bed sometimes difficult.  Finding celebration here is difficult.  Finding gratitude…not so much.  I cling to the gratitude knowing that celebration is wrapped within.

Today I am grat­­­eful for friends ever present, buoying and supporting; for beginnings that can occur and reoccur as many times as is necessary; I am grateful for words that touch and move me; for my words that make a difference for me and for others; I am grateful for paradox; I am grateful for swimming and movement that keeps me planted in my body; I am grateful for work that gives me purpose and allows me to share my gifts; I am grateful for poetry that speaks to me with words that I wish I had created because they seem to be so close to what I experience; I am grateful for suffering (mine and others) that brings us to a new and unexpected place or back to the home of comfort and belonging; for creativity both as the created and the creator; I am grateful for the mindless and the mindful; I am grateful that all evolves and nothing is lost; I am grateful that the shadow of sadness is joy.

One thing that I know is this…a container of gratitude creates space for celebration.  Today I celebrate gratitude.

 Thank you to Ruth for sharing her space to allow us to share out celebrations.

14 comments:

  1. I agree...celebration and gratitude are inexorably linked for me too! This Saturday post is hard during times of struggle. Hooray for you for composing a beautiful post filled with gratitude and hope! I'm so glad I stopped by.

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  2. Congrats on reaching the 100 post milestone! That is a celebration! Celebrations are closely tied to gratitude. I love the way you phrased it as a container. Joy always comes into play for me when I think back through the week seeking celebration.

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    1. Thank you, Elsie, for your many comments and faithful following of my writing. I feel like I have made a friend in you over the miles!

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  3. Congrats on your 100th post! I love what you say about gratitude. When I have a difficult week where I don't feel like celebrating much, I only have to reflect on what I'm grateful for and suddenly there is something to celebrate.

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  4. I love how you used gratitude to get to celebration. Have you read One Thousand Gifts? I recommend it as a spiritual way of seeing life in gratitude every day.

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    1. Thank you for the book recommendation, Margaret. I will put it on my summer reading list.

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  5. Celebration and gratitude are completely intertwined - I agree! We have a gratitude sharing circle in my class each week and it is lovely to see how we can celebrate even the smallest moments.

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  6. I so know of what you write. SOME DAYS it is HARD, VERY HARD to celebrate. Yet, I love that you see celebrations as so much more than happy moments.

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    1. And yet putting one step in front of the other and doing an action takes us to a new place--a cause for celebration!

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  7. I love "a container of gratitude creates space for celebration" and I am so glad you chose to celebrate!

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  8. I would echo all that has been written in response, Deborah. I'm sorry that it's lately been tough for you, & appreciate your sharing, and your intertwining of celebration and gratitude. They are a bit different, I agree, yet your "container" filled is worth so much. Congratulations on your 100th post-awesome accomplishment!

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    1. Thank you, Linda. And thank you for the many, many ways you have supported me during this journey!

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  9. Thank you for these thoughts, Deborah. Thinking of you as you move through this difficult time... and wishing you many many more celebrations. I am grateful for YOU.

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    1. Thank you, Irene! I am grateful for you and your kind words. On Tuesday I will be posting some of the things that I have learned about myself as a writer through writing my blog over the first 100 posts. One thing I have learned that my connections to others, including you, have made my writing world richer. Thank you

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