Amy E. Dean is an author and nationally known speaker on self-esteem, family relations, and recovery from a dysfunctional past. She has written a number of books, including PLEASANT DREAMS, LIFEGOALS, and FACING LIFE’S CHALLENGES: DAILY MEDITATIONS FOR OVERCOMING DEPRESSION, GRIEF, AND “THE BLUES.” Amy currently resides in Maynard, Massachusetts.
There’s a story of a spiritual teacher whose daily sermons were powerful and inspiring. Hours of preparation often went into creating such messages of hope, love, forgiveness, and joy. One morning, before standing to deliver the day’s sermon, the teacher focused on the message about to be given and knew it would probably be the best ever. The teacher remembered the time spent writing and rewriting the words of hope and peace and felt confident that many would be touched by such wisdom. Smiling, the teacher arose and faced those who had gathered together for the day’s message.
At that moment, a little bird came and sat on the window sill. It began to sing with a full heart for a few minutes. Then it stopped and flew away. The teacher was silent for a moment, then folded the pages to the prepared sermon and announced, “The sermon for this morning is over.”
To me, this story reflects what gratitude is: being able to fully experience and embrace the spontaneity of a moment that’s not sought after or anticipated. But how often do you allow that to happen? The mad rush of living, the mad crush of places to go and people to see, and the maddening stream of problems that need to be solved and conflicts that need to be resolved on a daily basis can make you forget that there’s a world teeming around you with wonders.
Each day I need to remind myself that gratitude is awareness. My day begins with an early-morning run on dark streets. My concentration is often divided into many directions, from paying attention to the dimly lit road so I don’t turn an ankle, to planning how my day will be organized. Before I learned about gratitude, I rarely took the time on my runs to notice the sky above me—still a night sky, with brilliant stars and an ever-changing position of the moon. But one morning, I happened to look up and, at that moment, saw a shooting star. The effect this fleeting instant had upon me was incredible. I smiled. I picked up my running pace. I looked around me and noticed other beauty—the silhouettes of trees presented against the indigo background of the sky, the way mica chips in rocks glistened in the beams from streetlights, the gurgling sounds that water made while running down a roadside stream. Throughout the day, I told my friends about the shooting star I had seen. And then the next morning I set off on my run ready to look down at the road, as well as to shift my focus from time to time to look around and above me.
Since then, I’ve seen two more shooting stars. I’ve also heard the screech of an owl and seen clouds pushed aside by gentle breezes. The way such sensual experiences make me feel inside reminds me of Alice Walker’s writing in The Color Purple, when her character records in her journal: “I’ve been so busy… I never truly notice nothing God make. Not a blade of corn (how it do that?), not the color purple (where it come from?). Not the little wildflowers. Nothing.”
How often do you take time to notice the wonders of the natural world on a daily basis—the rainbow after a storm, the birds frolicking around your bird feeder, or the silvery brilliance of a full moon? Gratitude is slowing down your pace, opening up your senses to the world around you, and feeling the impact such awareness has in how you feel and how you then live the next moment of your life.
