Getting grateful. Dan H used to tell the people drying out down in rehab that
they might have to get grateful. It seems like a band-aid for a hemorrage seemingly
but it works slowly, surely, through the mire and the fire... gratitude. I heard
someone say recently that serenity could be found by looking at what is while fear is always found from looking at what is not... all these bits of advice at times throughout my life have seemed too simple... Hallmark hullaballoo... but truer words have never found. You make a list of the things you are grateful for: you start with the fact that you believe in God. Whether or not you actually think he's an
intervener or not, he's There. He's doing something. Though most people can't seem
to figure out what, or why or how... He's a strange deity. But even so you start with him and then you say friends, family, a place to live, a car to drive,
food on your table, a job, a way to support yourself. A bed to sleep in, clothes to wear, clean water, clean air. Your grateful for moments with friends, moments with family. Your grateful for your health, that you don't look like that guy from Motorhead. That you have some intelligence, that you got an education... that you made it through treatment, that you have information which will help you live a better life. That there is music that makes you joyful, that there is a music that makes you cry, that you can feel emotions again. In other words, you start from the beginning and work your way out from birth... that you are still alive, with a chance everyday to be human.
It seems like Brooke and I come back to that alot-- to being human. It's one of the fundamental properties for us as individuals, as people who are having this experience. Andrea always talked about the fact that we were spiritual beings having a human experience... that it's debatable whether anyone really lives any better than the other...