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| © Vogue Italia |
In wanting to tap into my sense of gratitude I knew my sense of "plenty" would be tested. Its easy to be thankful for what you have when you want not for more. But can one be grateful when there is a lack, pain or suffering, inconvenience and fear?
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| © Vogue Italia |
Living in Japan, actually a stones throw from the Atomic Bomb Peace Park, I am often reminded (like everyday, sometimes multiple times in a day) of history, death and transformation. How grateful am I to have lived through 9-11 only to move across the world to see how repair can occur and productive, healing dialogue can begin and continue on and on. Last week when we experienced a major earthquake and tsunami, my sense of appreciation soared. How lucky am I to be so far south of the disaster area that although I felt after shocks (old building and an apartment on the 8th floor) I was and continue to be safe. How grateful am I that my outsourcing company has an excellent customer service approach and called me to see if I was ok - actually alerting me to the magnitude of the tremor I thought was just "a little earthquake". I'm also grateful that my friends who were in the area are safe and my family and friends reached out in a way that although extremely panicked, showed their love and care. I am grateful to be thought of and worried about - it's touching and sweet. I'm also grateful that I don't speak enough Japanese to fully understand the local/national news because I see how its making people freak out, freaky and freaked - all not in a good way. I'm grateful that I am so busy with the pleasures of my life that I am not worrying about what I coulda/shoulda (regret - very anti gratitude) and am living life to the fullest, appreciating all I have so if (G-d forbid) tomorrow is not so fortunate, nothing was taken for granted. I'm grateful that I don't tweet (unless you are Obama or the ghost of Mother Teresa, I'm not interested) and that I've actually been too beautifully busy that I would rather live than blog about my life.
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| © French Elle 2011 |
xo Purse Girl
2 comments:
Wow. That was lovely, inspiring and vaguely but refreshingly familiar of the childhood friend that I remember from Philadelphia. With all that's going on in the world your spirit of gratefulness really helps to put things in perspective. At the risk of sounding a bit hackneyed, who wants to waste life "sweating the small stuff" when there is so much to be thankful for?
A couple of years ago, a friend and I were reminiscing about our childhood years when your name came up. I looked you up & saw that you were living in Japan (I would normally brag about my P.I. skills but your name made it easy:))and so with the recent disaster, I wondered again how you were doing. Glad to hear you are well & grateful that in my search, I came across this lovely piece. I'm also grateful that although I hardly know anything about the whereabouts of my childhood friends, I'm happy that at least one is living happy, grateful and with out regret across the globe. Feelin' pretty grateful myself! Ah...I think I'll go tweet about it, lol!;) Be Well Lisa.
Hi Nicole,
thanks for the lovely comment on my blog. I have been busy lately and haven't actually written much, except about Gossip Girl and trips to the JCrew fabric factory in Italy. Things here are ok - Hiroshima is far from the earthquake site. The city itself is calm and clean and easy to get around. It's a bit too small for me and so I'll be moving in a few months - stay tuned for a post about that:)
Its good to see someone else has good sleuth skills and apparently a really good memory. Hope all is well with you! Pop me an email so we can keep in touch.
:)
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