Today's gratitude

There have been times in my life that I have wanted to dwell solely in the intangible spheres of life. My body, people, the activities of daily life all seemed both a burden and a barrier to the life of the mind and the spirit that felt much more real and important to me. I didn't want to die. These feelings were not motivated by a desire to end consciousness. I just wanted to surpass the material world. I didn't want to be confined and defined by physical limitations. I felt stuck with a body, and a not very good one at that. I lumbered on with my books, my dreams and daydreams, and the observations of one who felt like an alien in the world.

I wish I'd realized just what all I was missing. This is about more than just the pleasures of the senses. I don't think that purely spiritual beings can really appreciate the wordless joy, the peace and the sense of accomplishment that comes when mind, body, spirit and soul truly meld and work as one. That harmony within oneself when everything comes together is one of the greatest blessings I know.

I'm grateful today that I have a body, a body that works, plays and rests, that delights, hurts and tires, a body that knows on a physical level when the mind and spirit are with it and responds with tangible feedback. I'm glad gratitude doesn't require my being able to express or explain it well.

gratitude