Category: Essays

Too often we take for granted the community in which we live and all the fruits it has to offer. No matter where we live, there are always wonderful splendors that we can appreciate which are unique to our community. One need merely look around, keep an open heart, and open mind.

Right here where I live, in the Hudson Valley, we have beautiful foliage in the autumn. We have such a bountiful harvest season with apples of all kinds. Dense forest land and evergreens . The Catskill and Appalachian mountains. Hot summers, and cold winters. Snowy winters. The best hiking and mountain biking trails on the planet. Mountain climbing, kayaking, camping, and all other outdoor sporting activities associated with lush forests. It’s a scenic adventure here, and I indulge in it.

We all have plenty to appreciate in our communities. The gratitude we have for our communities will fuel us to try more of the fruits they have to offer. I believe too many of us don’t take advantage of all that is being offered locally, and we really should.

Think about it; if someone were to take a vacation in your community, what activities and events would they be likely to partake in? Have you taken the time to enjoy these same activities?

I believe many of us would be forced to answer “no.”

Now, we all make many reasons for this, but I believe the underlying dominant reason is the fact that we believe that since these fruits are local, they’re not “special”….. just “commonplace”; just because they are local. Yet we are all willing to enjoy the fruits of a place far away and call it “vacation”.

Well ….. I’m here to say that our communities are no less fruitful than our favorite vacation destinations. The path to discovering this begins with cultivating gratitude. Gratitude will grant us appreciation. Appreciation will then fuel our passion to enjoy all of our local people, places, events, opportunities, activities, and faire. 

If we have full bellies and a roof over our heads, we are in the top 50% of the world. If we have plumbing in our homes, access to clean water, we are in the top 20% of the world. And we don’t even need to be in that upper stratosphere of prosperity to cultivate happiness. There are people with much less than us who manage to cultivate happiness just fine.

So lets take the time every day to let ourselves be grateful for:

1. Fresh water flowing into our very homes.
2. Access to fresh food.
3. Shelter, complete with privacy.
4. Means for adequate transportation.
5. Waste disposal.
6. Clothing and warmth.
7. Healthcare.
8. Our fully functioning, healthy bodies.
9. Access to media and resources (phone, electricity, internet, heck ….. even RADIO is something to be grateful for, I listen to the radio all the time).

It is important to remember that once the basic necessities of life are met, our happiness is pretty much up to the mental state we choose. This happiness can be cultivated through gratitude. If it helps, here is an study that discusses the correlation between income and happiness: Money Buys Happiness? Not After You Hit Six Figures.

Thanksgiving and Gratitude

As we exit the month of “things that go bump in the night”, we enter the month of Thanksgiving; the month of giving thanks to all who have given so much to us.

What I’d like to focus on, what we should focus on though is the emotion where our thankfulness comes from. Thankfulness in itself is just an act; the act in itself is easy and automatically follows from a feeling, an emotion. That emotion, that source, is gratitude. November is the month I’d like to focus on gratitude.

For more of my thoughts on gratitude follow this link HERE.

Every Sunday in November I will be posting another element in our lives that we should be grateful for. These are simple things that every one of us has (hopefully). Things we often take for granted. Maybe even things we barely notice in the hustle and bustle of life.

For this post I’d like to remind us that we should be grateful for Sunshine and nature. How often during our busy lives do we take the time to pause and go outside for fresh air? My guess, is not enough. Let the sunshine fall upon our faces. Take it all in. Take off our shoes and let our bare feet tread upon the grass. And if we are feeling particularly joyous, roll in the grass. These are wonderful sensations we take for granted. Lets take some time to do that this week/month. Our gratitude for these things fuels our appreciation for them ….. which in turn makes us even more grateful.