Tuesday, March 02, 2010

gratitude for here, now

in my favorite cup: espresso shines in the morning sunlight.

My theme this week is gratitude. Finding gratitude always helps me return to center. Looking around at the everyday details of life, there is always room for gratitude. Always.
This morning as I looked around my immediate vicinity in search of a subject about which to express gratitude, all I could think about was how much I looked forward to having a little bit of espresso. So I decided to go ahead and be thankful that I have the means to procure something so deeply satisfying for me, just a couple blocks up the street. I have a love-hate relationship with espresso (and have had with coffee for most of my adulthood). The little angel on one shoulder reminds me that my extensive nutritional education reiterates the benefits of abstaining from caffeine. She also reminds me that, a mostly-local diet being so important to me, coffee beans are a luxury soaked in diesel fuel even if I do buy organic and fair trade. But the little devil on the other shoulder retorts that I really don't drink that much ~ it takes me days to go through a couple shots of espresso. And it is a great excuse to drink (organic) cream ~ which is encouraged in my dietary principles. And the most important thing: it helps my tortoise-ish behind get buzzing into activity in such a merry way. Oh, and it's so damned tasty. Nothing substitutes for good espresso.
So with the back and forth of living intentionally, there is gratitude in the gray area in between. And a bit of espresso with cream.

1 comment:

rachel said...

I am with you here. I've also been very reluctantly on 2 rounds of prozac in my life, each time getting off as soon as possible. Coffee gives me a reason to wake up in the morning, and puts some spring in my step. Being a kapha body type, I don't think a moderate bit of the bitter cup is too bad a thing. Especially compared with all I associate with the pharmaceutical business.
Whew...there you have it...my great rationalization of the day!