Rain & Loss: a recipe for cultivating gratitude

Today as it rained I let it splash on my face ... and it made me giggle. It's an interesting experiment to use loss as a measure of how overflowing my cup is. Screw "half full" vs. "half empty" my cup overfloweth like a tsunami. Here's my recipe for cultivating gratitude when it rains: When my mom was alive and I'd be having a shitty day I'd remember that she was having a shittier day. Mom was bedridden for the last 20 years of her life, and my worst days we're probably her best. When I felt like crap I'd call her up, not to unload, but to tell her I loved her, and see if I couldn't bring some light into her otherwise chronically ill life. When it rains I let it splash on my face ... because I can ... and because my mom, bless her, couldn't do this for the last 20 years of her life. I feel grateful that I get to do this simple, joyful thing ... life is full of blessings, we've just not been taught how to look for them.

"For after all, the best thing one can do when it is raining is to let it rain." ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow