Day 2 January 13th
So the honeymoon is over and its time to keep writing and keep appreciating! Thanks for reading!
Three Sources of Gratitude AND Meditation/Reflection:
Potable water- Access to clean water nearly anywhere in the developed world is mind boggling once you step back and examine its significance. Imagine you have a time machine and travel back to the Middle Ages and explained to a serf that these round pipes deliver as much water as you could possible consume, so much so that future people even use otherwise drinkable water in the front of their dwellings for the sole purpose of making the grass appear greener. They would completely freak out. But you don’t need a time machine to find these places, only a plane or bus ticket, to find countries where drinking tap water will make you ill. With this thought in mind, I went to the sink in my kitchen filled a glass of water to the brim and realized, wow, this is in the immortal words of Joe Bidden, this is “a big f%*^&#$ deal!”
Coffee– To me, coffee is a swirl of productivity, creativity, and leisure. It also tastes awesome. Oddly enough, I don’t drink coffee to wake up in the morning; I enjoy the undertones, flavors and different roasts. I am a recovering coffee snob. Not only am I grateful that I did not need to endure the equatorial sun to harvest the ripest beans to bring to market, I also did not have to roast it. Yes, I am very grateful for the luxury of coffee.
Wikipedia-Wikipedia is nothing short of remarkable because the sum of human knowledge is just a few clicks away. It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet of curiosity. The fact that dedicated volunteers the world over maintain and edit the pages for the sake of the advancement of human knowledge maintains my faith in humanity. Detractors say that Wikipedia is full of waco information or kids trolling on the Internet, but after reading the Wikipedia Revolution I learned that the folks at Wikipedia have crafted some very formidable systems to counter false information. We are quickly approaching the day where it wont some matter who you are or what you have, you can teach yourself about nearly anything. I am equally thankful for https://www.khanacademy.org/ and http://www.codecademy.com. What is cooler than democratization of information? Nothing.
Intentional Act of Kindness:
Behind the bakery counter at the local Wholefoods, Jill works diligently with a smile. Since I put the cookie monster’s appetite for carbs to shame, Jill has seen my face quite a bit. She always gives me samples and tells me with remarkable gusto about the best new cookies and breads. Three week ago I wrote a review about how helpful and friendly she was. Later Jill told me, as I contemplated between and loaf of French bread or a scone, that she had been given a bonus because of my note and others positive feedback over the last few months.
Exercise
I went to the Dallas Yoga Center, my dad’s second home, to try out one of his favorite classes. Side note, Dad was looking at a ‘30 Days of Yoga Challenge’ where you go to class 5 days a week for a month and before he could inquire, someone interjected ‘Harry, you already do that.” I guess there are worse vices.
Unlike Ashtanga, which is very structured, this class was more free form in that Nicole asked us before class, “So, what do you want to work on?” Someone said twisting and in about a minute the 12 of us were on the floor twisted like pretzels. It was awesome and I feel taller this morning.
charliesaginaw 