10 Things Always to be Grateful For

Gustav Klimt -  Lakeside with Birch Trees, 1901 

I've been searching for awhile for something I read in college about a Native American prayer of thanksgiving.  It a reminder to be thankful for a series of basic things.  It's something like... be thankful that you are alive, be thankful that there is life at all, be thankful that the universe exists.  There's one more "layer" somewhere.  I like the "power of tens" movement that happens there; it seems to shock your imagination into realization that there are a lot of "vertically integrated" things that didn't need to happen that DID happen that are pre-conditions of your own existence.

Somewhere on Twitter, probably from a mindfulness site, there was something that reminded me of that, but in a different way.  It involved being thankful often for things like: clean clothing, enough food, shelter to sleep in.  Maybe family or friend?  Here it takes the perspective of maybe being homeless, alone.  

I've been trying to be more grateful for things as they pop up unprompted in my mind through the day.  For instance, yesterday, as I rolled the garbage cans back to the house, I was thinking I was grateful for garbage service... someone takes my stinky chicken carcasses and accumulated junk and "magically" gets rid of it for me.  On a cold night recently I was thankful that we have indoor plumbing.... I'm glad I didn't have to go outside with the shivering raccoons to take my nightly pee.  These are more like things that make my life easier, more pleasant, more cocooned.

Marcus Aurelius says, "When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love."

All three are from different "vantage points."

Maybe I can create a list of ten things that can like a daily mantra.  I'm not sure which of these vantage points to do it from.  So, I'll just start collecting them here.

1. indoor plumbing
2. garbage service
3. home that protects me from the cold and the wind
4. a car/transportation
5. enough food each day (far MORE than enough!)
6. enough clothing. (far MORE than enough!)
7. family that would support me if I'm in need 
8. a basic relationship with my kids