Sauces, Silver Linings, and the Practice of Gratitude
Cleaning out the fridge is my least favorite household task, yet I am usually the one doing it. I don’t know how it happens. Our fridge is a fairly small side-by-side, but somehow things get lost and forgotten. Perhaps it's a bit like Hermione’s purse in Harry Potter; from the outside it looks normal, but the inner reaches are mammoth, holding anything you could possibly imagine inside. Living in a household with four adults, the contents of our fridge fluctuate daily. Uncoordinated shopping trips, leftover containers, and the Hermione's purse phenomenon make cleaning the fridge an epic adventure.
Today, I tackled the sauce shelves—you know, the shelves on the back of the doors. We are a saucy family. The shelves can never contain the abundance of sauces my family acquires, and inevitably a bottle ends up on its side, leaking, seeping, sticking—you get the picture. My son came up in the middle of my adventure after hearing my sighs from the basement. He came to check if I was okay. He applauded my efforts, encouraged me to continue, and helped me organize the sauces into categories: Asian sauces, hot sauces, mustards, etc.
Once the task was completed, I stood looking at the new organization and all the stuff in our fridge. We are so lucky to have such abundance! We are fortunate to have such a first-world problem as having a messy fridge. While my gratitude may not change my attitude about the task, it definitely helps soften my resistance.
If gratitude were a religion, I’d be a devotee. When the chips are down (or there is sticky gunk on the shelves), I start listing all that I am grateful for in the moment. Sometimes it is hard to muster gratitude when you are really down. When your world seems to be spiraling, it is difficult to see the silver linings in the clouds. That is why I like to practice every day, making a gratitude list. It could be in a fancy journal you keep or just a mental note before falling asleep. Gratitude practiced becomes like the small stabilizing muscles you feel after almost falling—you don’t know they are there until you need them.
Recently, I slipped into a funk. After two days of wallowing in a blue fog, I remembered gratitude, my helpful friend. I dug deep, like I did in the refrigerator. It wasn’t easy, but slowly, surely, with each utterance of gratitude, my blue mood cloud began to shift. Grasping the silver linings like a lifeline, I held on, creating more silver linings. Soon, I was resting in a web of silver linings, being buoyed by the power of gratitude.
Today, I am grateful for finding the forgotten cherries in the back of the fridge (they are still good!), having just enough ice to put in my water bottle, and air conditioning (whew! It is a hot one!).
What are you grateful for today?
Want to practice gratitude? Join my Yoga Nidra class Wednesday at 7 pm where we will dive deep into all of the beauty, goodness and abundance in our lives, focusing our intention on Gratitude. Email me for the Zoom link at kirstengoliver@gmail.com
In deepest gratitude,
Kirsten
