BEING WITH GRATITUDE

In many ways, intentional gratitude is new to me. Even as recently as early last year I knew that gratitude was the missing piece for me - I was taking too much for granted.

It was only when I came across Brenne Brown's work in her book 'Atlas of the Heart', that I realised where exactly the problem was, how much it was taking away from my experience of life itself, and what I could do to bring it to my everyday living.

Brenne Brown classifies Gratitude as an emotion as well as a practice, and defines it as an emotion that reflects our deep appreciation for what we value, what brings meaning to our life, and what makes us feel connected to ourselves and others.

She also talks about how joy and gratitude have an upward spiral - more of one means more of the other (and now see that in my experience too).

Today I'm at a place that I'm grateful for all that I experience. Even the seemingly unwanted experiences are there for a reason, and I am grateful for those too.

One of the things that I have been consistent with, is to 'practice gratitude'. And today I'm using this platform to practice it.

I had been away on a 10-day vacation with my friends - no families, just friends - across Portugal and Spain. I got back last night, and before I got to anything else, I wanted to put out this gratitude post. Here is all that I'm grateful for, and all that which enhanced my experience and joy during the trip -

1. Health - Most of the exploring was on foot, with narrow cobbled streets at all kinds of inclines. So doing about 20K steps everyday, experimenting with all kinds of food, sleeping at odd hours, enjoying a much colder weather than I'm used to - I'm grateful that my health permitted me to do it all, with zero compromise anywhere.

2. Family - Just knowing that my family was equally enthusiastic about my trip, and kept me away from any domestic concerns while on the vacation, meant zero worries for me on the home front. I also want to acknowledge my house help who continued being a wonderful support system.

3. Friendships that have been nurtured over many years - Immensely grateful for friends who have been there through the good, the crazy and not so good times.

4. Financial independence - I'm grateful that my financial independence allowed me to  plan this vacation inspite of having stepped away from full-time work.

5. All the beauty that this world has to offer - Even as I type this I'm aware about the horror that war is bringing to many beautiful parts of this world, and to many innocent lives. I have a heightened sense of gratitude here so that I don't take a single moment of peace, prosperity and beauty of the places I visited for granted.

6. Human connections with strangers - I am grateful for the chance encounters and soulful - though brief - conversations. A local cab driver in Porto, while talking about all the problems arising on account of a surge in the immigrant population, very generously added in broken English - They are all welcome here but I only wish they would follow traffic rules....I would also like to be welcomed in other parts of the world...afterall the Sun is born for everyone :)

Picture: The picturesque town of Porto