Summit Wellness: Gratitude - "When The Smoke Clears"
By Matt Anthony - Summit FM Digital Media Specialist
Before you had too much,
Come back in focus again.
- “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” – Radiohead
It was an exceptional day for a marriage ceremony. The afternoon was brilliantly sunny. The congregation appeared to be expertly coiffured in every way. My nephew and his gorgeous bride had ordered up the perfect day to kick off their life together. I, and everyone else on the guest-list, would not have had it any other way. There was much for which to be grateful.
Weddings. Graduations. Vacations. The gratitude found during these momentous events seem to shine forth with a bit more luminosity. They’re easier to see. (And the highlights make for rapid-fire social-media posts and magnanimous photo ops!)
But what happens after the confetti is swept away, after the suitcases are stacked again in the basement or the garage. When the luster of the event diminishes, how deeply do we need to look for the much more nuanced radiance of the ‘everyday’?
When I was working through my motorcycle training class, our instructor (‘Augie’, a short, compact, likeable, big-voiced man who could flick a 900-pound machine at slow-speed through orange cones with pinpoint accuracy!) would say to us, “Anyone can ride a bike on a straight line. Throw some curves and obstacles in the way, and that’s where the rubber hits the road.”
I feel like ‘gratitude’ can be looked at in the same way. Sitting back in a comfy chair with a beverage in hand, on the deck of a rented house facing the ocean makes being ‘thankful’ a bit easier. But where do we find it in the everyday, when the search may be more difficult and not as easy to locate?
“I don't need anything special, none of that stuff,
I'm a stowaway in your heart and that's enough.
- "Stowaway In Your Heart" – Lucinda Williams
That smoke is going to clear. And while it may reveal an unimpeded view of reality, it also showcases ‘opportunity’. Lately, the real test in this quest for me is coming to the realization that being grateful sometimes requires effort. And putting in the work to being thankful means that those opportunities for realizing what you already have can be shrouded by concentrating too much on the larger events that seem to define this life we lead. Any diligent music-lover knows that finding a gem amongst stacks of vinyl sometimes requires patience and effort. And isn’t that a wondrous feeling when you finally find it?