Jamie's Musings And Mutterings On An Attitude of Gratitude

Jamie’s Musings and Mutterings
By Jamie Wisswaesser
November 2014

So the wife says, says she
after having encountered a number of folks in continual or recurring pain-
We have our health so We gotta just shut up.
(in actuality her terse imperative form was
"You have your health, so Shut up.")
Finding gratitude tho for one's fate, can sometimes be a stretch
when one does that comparison up the ladder.
 I see those seemingly fortunate footloose young souls
-with a history of good dentistry and diet-
snowbirding away from frozen feet and waterlines,
heading off to warm romantic locales with pockets full of discretionary-
and I sigh, remembering those times it had been I.
But then not to be a drag to myself
esp. coming from that new-agey belief in
-free will agency-
(i.e. There really is little/no victimhood.
-corollary-
 One (The self actualized) can always leave
and so
One must have chosen to be
Here and Now in
The Best of all Possible Worlds...)
So then,
there is this daily task/stretch to be upbeat
and grateful for ones station, intimacies, and challenges,
knowing that for the flow to be smooth it has to be primed with attitude.
To start the day right, I pay attention to the small pleasures
such as in the mornings when I can waken sans alarm and joint pain
with the vestiges of dream mood fading,
I go out the front door into open air
 to greet the sun and listen for the birdcalls of the season.
 The big ungulates noticing my appearance come over with hope.
I proffer a bite of apple and then take pleasure in providing
to their appreciation of the deliciousness of life.
(Just some weeks ago, I too was so grateful
for those delicious mushrooms that the rains delivered up there on the mountain)
Dealing with the humans later in the day can be taxing.
I try my best to be open to thankfulness for their presence
...and forget often....