It's a strange kind of Sunday; She Who has a migraine which effectively precludes all noisy activity such as laundry and hoovering and tinkering with the kitchen so I'm viewing this as a big plus. After all, its not often one finds not an excuse but a valid reason for sitting down quietly and not doing the housework! The dogs are less sure about this good thing because they fear the loss of the main priviledge of weekends, the longer walkie. I'm sure there will be some sort of walk, but at this time its likely to be of shorter duration because I have work on Sunday afternoons. Also I am getting hungry and lunch may well interfere very soon!
So it is a serendipitous day. I love that word, it is evocative and has the right nuance for discovering that you have a few hours in which to do nothing other than suit yourself and I am grateful for the sudden gift. I have discovered a talent for gratitude. I fail dismally when it comes to forgiveness,(I just can't, so have despaired of mastering the technique) and I am less than adept with the concept of loving everyone as if they were myself. I don't think this is truly a possibility. A lovely thought but unworkable. There are just some people to whom I do not warm. The cruel, the hurtful, the spiteful and jealous acts preclude me from love. I do not love those who abuse animals, I do not love those who are unkind to people I care about. I detest malicious spite and to those people I cannot be loving. I compromise by pretending they do not exist. I see this as a major failing on my part. Enlightenement decrees a kind of non judgemental universal Love I just cannot get my head around.
Gratitude however I can handle. If you start with little things like gratitude for a sudden rainbow or a great cup of coffee and move on then to greater things, gratitude can become both a way of thinking and a joy. And after actively practising the 'Attitude of Gratitude' (Yes I know! Horribly American and 'perky'. Sorry!) for a number of months I have discovered many benefits. For example, I do not become angry as easily or as often as before. I am more actively aware of good things around me. I see more positives. Best of all, it makes me happy in a way nothing else does.
I wonder if I will ever be as competent with Forgiveness? .....Nah.
Namaste.
