Gratitude


There’s a body of research pointing to gratitude being a key to well being. When feeling down, for whatever reason – things not going well, the state of the world – being thankful is almost like rebooting the mind. No matter what any given moment is like there are fundamental things about existence that are… miraculous.
I HAVE A BODY
To be aware of the body – to feel it, gravity acting on it, bodily sensations - is a good way to start this kind of reflection. It’s grounding and always accessible.
What’s more Joni Mitchel was right – we are Stardust!
Everything that makes up our bodies was forged in the belly of stars. All these atoms are traceable to stars that manufactured them in their cores and exploded them across the galaxy, billions of years ago.
I love to remind myself of this - my favourite fact about the universe!
I AM CONSCIOUS
As far as we know the human brain is the most complicated structure in the universe. Despite advances in artificial intelligence we are nowhere near matching the accomplishments of the brain – you and I am are the proud possessors of one of these!
My whole life plays out as a succession of feelings, thoughts, emotions – all experienced in consciousness. In human consciousness the universe could be seen as becoming aware of itself.
That extraordinary process is happening right now inside my head - and your head.
How we come to be conscious and what exactly it is remains a mystery. A mystery we have access to every waking moment.
I HAVE AGENCY
I think to myself - I want to pick up that cup – my arm moves, the cup moves. By a mere thought I can effect the world. It’s a superpower!
Whatever happens today – no matter how seemingly insignificant my actions – they will irrevocably change the world.
The knock on effects of everything you and I do and say today will spread out from the small world around us in ever widening ripples. They will cascade around the world and through the millennia.
It’s a kind of immortality.
I EXIST
In the long dark night that is the life of the universe – there’s the brief moment when our planet exists - human life exists. And in the tiniest fraction of the blink of the eye – I exist.
There will be countless aeons when I don’t exist and there were countless aeons when I didn’t exist.
This very moment of existence – the one you are I are conscious of - right here and right now.
That’s a miracle.
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