Gratitude for the New Year - 2011

Discussed my resolution to blog about gratitude with a half-dozen friends today. They were all supportive of the idea. Several friends committed to writing their own gratitude journals or blogs. That felt good and I appreciated the support.

Went book browsing at Barnes & Noble in Woodinville followed by a late lunch at Red Robin this today. That was a pleasant way to spend a chilly wet winter afternoon.  Even with help from two different B&N clerks, I could not find a single book on gratitude in the entire bookstore. There were a few be-positive books in the self-help section, but not one book specifically on gratitude. More evidence that gratitude is hypocognized (somewhat ignored) in America contrasted with the hypercognition (fixated on) of entire wall on war & military history. There was not a single book on the good wars although many of the books glamorized war.

After a brief stop at home, I headed back out to give a friend a ride home from work. We stopped at a convenience store on the way to her place. She filled my car with gas and I bought her a couple of frozen burritos. I am always grateful when someone puts gas in my car for me, especially on cold rainy days. Getting my wheelchair out just to get gas has more of a mental block than the actual physical effort merits. There is a feeling of security driving around with a full tank of gas that is not there when the needle on the gas gauge is in the empty red zone.

Sometimes I give friends a ride to and from the SeaTac airport. It is a 20-minute drive in light traffic or the carpool lane. Usually my timing is pretty good so that I pull up right when they are ready to go in the car-loading/arrival zone. Tonight I got to the airport 45 minutes early and waited in the cell phone parking area. That was my first time parking there while waiting for a plane. It was a surprising small lot with about a 100 parking spaces. The lot was full at 7:30 on a Monday night. It would have been a madhouse if there hadn't been 6000 flights canceled on the east coast today due to the biggest snowstorm in 60 years.

Once I got home, it was time to watch my second Netflix BluRay dvd with a fancy new set of headphones that sounded great. I have a fascination with large retail and grocery stores with the fantastic variety of items for sale at stores such as Whole Foods, Costco or Home Depot. This month was an Amazon.com shopping spree for me. The variety & prices on Amazon are from another world of conspicuous consumption. Electronic cables/wires are a third the price on Amazon compared with Best Buy or Radio Shack. Yay Amazon!
 
Writing this gratitude blog post took an hour. I type it in MS Word on a decent PC. My typing & composition abilities are good enough to write a short paper like this for a college class in less than half the time. It is difficult for me to share my grateful thoughts and experiences with others. Practice will speed this process up. Feedback from you will help me learn how to share in a way best conveys the gratitude I am trying to feel and communicate.

Love and all the best,

Kevin
December 28, 2010