tasteful_tn
This past weekend I attended SOBCon08 (the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference) in Chicago, and today I had planned to write all about it. There were some fantastic messages shared, I made some great new friendships, lots of new connections, and had a blast with everyone I met.
Of course, writing about it was what I was going to do today, but… on the way home from dropping off my rental car, we had a tire blow up on the interstate. Knock on wood, we were fine, although the wheelwell got a bit ripped up when the tire’s tread flew off.
And, knock on wood, even though there were a bunch of cars around us, there were no collisions, no problems (except ours)… everyone was fine.
And, knock on wood, the tire actually still worked! The tread blew clear off, but the rest stayed on and inflated, so we could actually limp along in the shoulder until the next off-ramp. (And no, it wasn’t a retreaded tire… the guy at the tire shop said that what happened really shouldn’t have happened. But, of course, it did, so it just goes to show that improbable things actually happen all the time, just in case those of you out there with 100% normal lives were wondering.)
And, amazingly, we were able to drive on the busted-up tire all the way into the next town (over 10 miles), and then into the next town—ours—without incident. Why so far? There’s only one tire place on the way, and they didn’t have one in our size (it’s a truck tire shop, primarily). The shredded tire held its air for one last journey, and we made it all the way to Bob’s Tire Service…
… where, knock on wood, the guys were awesome. We were out the door in about fifteen minutes, with two new tires on the car (we needed two because we were driving on the spare, due to a previous blowout a month or so ago), and filled with gratitude.
And that is the reason I told you the entire story.
Because throughout the entire adventure, we were filled with gratitude about all the wonderful things that conspired to make it as easy a process as it could have been. There were so many places along the way where this story could’ve turned ugly, but it didn’t. There were so many ways in which we could have gotten negative, cursing life… but we didn’t. My girls even did fine with it, finding ways to play and look on the bright side through the whole thing.
And while it means I have to postpone the SOBCon review for another day (because I’ve got to take my daughter to our soccer practice—she plays, I coach—in a few minutes), I’m brimming with gratitude over how fantastic my day has been so far. And that choice—the choice to choose gratitude over whining—made all the difference.
So, can you cultivate a practice of gratitude?
I used to hear people talk about gratitude, and my answer would be, “psh.” I figured that gratitude was for people whose lives were going fantastically, and those of us with struggles might get there someday. But the truth of it is, gratitude is not a by-product of a fantastic life, but how you get to have one in the first place.
How?
And you know what? It works. Our lives have totally turned around in so many ways since then. And, just as in my story today, even when things aren’t completely optimal by your standards, you’ll be a lot happier about it if you can be grateful for all that’s going on that’s worth being grateful for. Because, really, there’s always something worth being happy about.
What are you grateful for? How can you, right now, see the silver lining that’s in your life? Add it to the comments below this post, please — because you never know how your words can spark profound change for someone who may read them.
May 6, 2008, 8:09 am
Adam I am grateful for the many opportunities to serve and connect on a daily basis. Even though it frequently exasperates me I’m grateful for technology and how it allows me to connect with many down to earth bloggers like you. Thanks man. Hang in there.
May 6, 2008, 9:00 am
Beautiful post Adam.
Something I am smack in the middle of learning right now is that, I get to choose. I choose how to react, in any situation. And even better, I get to choose the outcome.
I can be all piss and venom - and the outcome will reflect that… or… I can choose that the outcome is going to be peaceful, and exactly what I want (or pretty darn close ;) ).
May 6, 2008, 10:14 am
Adam, thanks. Gratitude is like any muscle - as you exercise it, it strengthens; as you ignore it, it atrophies. The people who try to be grateful for everything are, by and large, the happiest.
I’m grateful I met you at SOBCon08.
May 6, 2008, 11:09 am
Adam, thanks for this. Just what I needed this morning. I love when you write on spirit oriented topics.
May 6, 2008, 12:54 pm
Tom, thanks for sharing. I’m the same; service is definitely the core of what I do, and I love technology (except when I don’t!).
Jenn, sounds like you’re in the middle of great lesson - hallelujah you’ve got the perspective to see it!
Easton, so true, so true. I’m glad we got time to talk more on this go-around, too.
Rinatta, you’re very welcome. And since you love spirit-oriented topics, you’re going to love what comes after my SOBCon08 review… that’s all I’ll say for now, but let’s just say there’s something on the way that I believe will make many of you very happy.
May 6, 2008, 3:41 pm
I used to totally completely and utterly not only not get the gratitude schtick but think it was so utterly insipid and I would never achieve the coolness I yearned for if I started to be grateful. All of this was due to not getting that you have to, like you wrote Adam, start really small and with what you are honestly grateful for… and keep working that, yes, just like a muscle. It’s like all spiritual work - it just keeps evolving and boy, does it change everything. And we now know that change includes our brains and we are then able to interact with others, which is way cool.
Thanks Adam.
May 6, 2008, 5:28 pm
Jennifer’s comment about the “insipid” nature of gratitude reminded me of how glad (grateful ?) I am that you didn’t write about being insincerely positive. You know, the situation where you’re upset, angry, afraid of something, but put on a happy face and say “I’m fine”. That kind of positive thinking is a disservice to your spirit because it runs roughshod over unhealed feelings.
May 6, 2008, 6:45 pm
Jennifer, you’re so right on. The evolution you speak of is often times so gradual, I don’t think we see it most of the time… just the big breakthroughs get our attention.
Celeste, I agree completely. One of the trickiest aspects of gratitude (or any of the positive-thinking, law-of-attraction-kinda-stuff) is finding a way to have it be genuine. Because we know instantly if we’re forging it, even if we think that’s how we should be responding. I think it’s critical to be exactly where we’re at… and let the muscles build themselves. (Trying to fake gratitude is like trying to fake having a good body - it may look okay from one angle, but as soon as you take a step, all hell breaks loose!)
May 7, 2008, 5:31 pm
And I’m grateful to have met you at SOBCon.
It’s so cool when you finally meet people who you’ve only ever read online - and they turn out to be really great and interesting people far out of proportion of what seems a fair distribution of positive characteristics in a single human being.
Nice one.
May 7, 2008, 11:47 pm
Adam:
Oh wow - what an inspiring story. I felt as if I were in the car riding (or shall I say limping?) along. I love how you were able to maintain a sense of gratitude after it was all over. I very much believe in the power of gratitude, which is why I began writing a weekly gratitude post over 26 weeks ago. It’s a reminder for myself and those who are reading it to keep honing the attitude of gratitude.
Gratitude keeps you focused on what you have, not what you don’t and brings more of the same to you. It keeps you humble and spiritually aware. Thanks for sharing this Adam!
And hey, it was GREAT meeting you at the SOBCon08. We didn’t get to talk much but that’s definitely not going to happen next time I see you. I’m going to make sure we hunker down for a long talk - I’m a sucker for spiritual stuff. :)
May 8, 2008, 10:35 am
Dubber, so am I - I wish we’d had more time to talk; you’re obviously someone who’s on the ball in more ways than one. “To be continued”, I’m sure.
Stephen, ditto.
And, the coolest thing for me is that it wasn’t “gratitude once it was done” — it was “gratitude while limping down the highway.” Surprised even me.
May 11, 2008, 9:44 am
I’m grateful for my Gratitude Journal; each morning I write my gratitude for things that have happened, and my gratitude intentions for things I’d like to happen. Being in gratitude gets the day off to a good start, and intentions do materialise.
Add a comment
Comment Zen: Cardinal rule: Be nice. Please be mature, try to be helpful, and know that trolls will be banned.
Oh, and you can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackbacks
And, from the blog...
Must-Read Articles
Innards
Click here for Archives and a Tag Cloud, and a Sitemap.
Search
Contact
cforms contact form by delicious:days
About
Monk at Work is Adam Kayce's website about webdesign, personal peace, and bringing your best work out to the world.
And, perhaps, a bit of a nutter.
Subscribe
Resources
Need some help on the inner side of life?
I took fifteen years of personal growth, healing, and spirituality, and distilled it into seven audio 'meditations' to help you with everything from inner peace to intuition to procrastination. Check it out.
Monk at Work is built on WordPress, naturally, because it rocks. It was designed by me, of course, with the intention of being simple, clean, and fluff-free.
It's also a good idea to use Firefox, because IE chunks a few things. And because Firefox rocks, too.
Hope you enjoy being here.
In general, my work is © 2009 Adam Kayce and Monk at Work, but if you're thinking to quote me or link to something I've said or done, then please be a stud/studette and use the BY-NC-ND Creative Commons License. It's the cool way to go. Much love. 3, 2, 1, Go!