The book How to Want What You Have by Timothy Miller has a chapter on practicing Gratitude, developing it as a skill. Since I’m working on the mental skill of relaxation this week, I thought I’d try his 14 day program for practicing Gratitude. It’s one of his three strategies (the others being Attention and Compassion) to help combat the instinctual Desire for More. Who knows, it might help my athletic performance, too.
Day 1
Practice gratitude for the food you eat, regardless of whether it is special or routine. Don’t alter your usual eating habits.
As I write this, I’m drinking a very good cup of coffee at my favorite coffeehouse. I’m fortunate to live in town that has a place that makes good coffee, as there are plenty of towns where they still put the pot on a hot plate and burn the shit out of it.
I ate a fiber bar this morning, like I do every day. It’s not great tasting, but it’s not terrible either and I’m fortunate to have something like this that helps give me enough fiber that helps prevent colon cancer. It helps keep me, um, regular, too. I wash it down with some lots-of-pulp orange juice which we now buy in a jug. It’s sort of expensive, but it’s one of the little things that we splurge on, since our grocery bill is minuscule compared to when all three boys were living at home. I really like the taste of fresh-squeezed oj, and though this stuff is not as good as actually squeezing the oranges myself, it’s close enough and a helluva lot more convenient.