Meditation: Healing Love, 12 minutes

I watched the college gymnastics national championship this morning. UCLA won in a thriller that required Christine “Peng Peng” Lee to put up two back-to-back perfect tens in the uneven bars and the balance beam. In the post-match interview, coach Valerie Kondos Field was asked about the quote she used to inspire her team that morning. It’s a remix of a King James Bible verse:

I’m not a religious person but that resonated. I struggle some Sundays to figure out what to write. This ritual is an exercise in gratitude, and the reality is I’m often most grateful for the mundane. I woke up this morning. I live in a place where the sun is shining. I want for very little. My body works. I enjoy the work I do and the people I do it with. I appreciate my friends and family (even if I don’t tell them enough). My life is more comfortable than most.

So what, each week, am I uniquely grateful for? Maybe it’s a song like “Nice for What” which reminds us that this is a short life; to do and be you; and that those you let in should care for you.

Maybe it’s that the book you most wanted to read—Sing, Unburied, Sing—was in the new release section of the library when you arrived after months of being unavailable.

Maybe I’m grateful for the adjustments to my morning routine that kept me clear of mind, on task, thoughtful, and disciplined most days.

Maybe it’s NBA playoff basketball which has been excellent.

Maybe it was feeling particularly good at my job this week.

Maybe it was for the opportunities presented to be kind to strangers and that I took them.

Maybe it was the Friday of self-care: a long lunch at one of my favorite places and an after-work massage that found and removed the tension in my muscles, my shoulders, and feet that I’m rarely aware of until they are gone.

Maybe, though, it’s all things. Even the hard things that require more of me. Especially, perhaps, those things that demand courage and voice with outcomes uncertain.

Be anxious for nothing and grateful for all things.

Okay.