Things I'm Grateful For, Streamed
G-d
Torah
The ability to access Torah
The ability to digest Torah
Being human
Mussar
My father is alive
I had a mother for 71 years
I had three grandparents in my life, one briefly but lovingly and two lovingly and for a long time
My parents got me the yeshiva education they did not have
A compassionate older brother with his lovely wife and three great children
Extended family
Poetry
Reading
Writing
Managing without much 'rithmatic
A job which is more than a job; my school community
Teachers
Students
Colleagues
Supervisors
Friends
Acquaintances
The home I grew up in
The neighborhood I grew up in
The Shul of my youth
My apartment
My neighborhood
All that I learn from teachers students and friends
Music
Chotchkies
Mementos
Memories
Love
Friendship
Mentors
Heros
Books
Films
Rabbis
Authors
Poets
Author friends
Poet friends
People who set me up
What comes from people setting me up
New experiences
New People
Self Appreciation
External Appreciation
Love
Respect
Strength
Tenacity
Compassion
Flexibility
Humor (funny i didn't mention that earlier)
Breath
Meditation
Exercise
Walking
Listening
Talking
Creativity
Self expression
Having survived 9/11 (wasn't there - but wasn't so far)
Having a safe American Life
Aspirations, still
Hope
Pain I grow from
My Blog
Facebook (only because many people don't read blogs)
My Jewish Week essays
Every day
My birthday (not yet)
Cherished (and painful) letters and emails
Photographs
The ability to end this list for now, though it goes on...
posted by rabbi neil fleischmann @ 10:16 PM
6 Comments:
I realized you didn't have a mother for 71 years; you had her for 40something years. She lived till age 71.
point taken, comment and knowing you read this pearl (and thought) about what i wrote, very much appreciated.
correction: i am grateful that i had a mother who lived for 71 years.
(i may be off by a year or so, i'll wait for family to correct me on that.)
I'd written a comment before this one, but maybe it didn't go through properly..
I'd said that I loved the list and the fact that you took time to put such a list together. Everyone should -- old and young. Once you start listing what you're grateful for, generally you can't stop!
I've heard some people say that at Thanksgiving dinner, they go around the table and do exactly what you've done in this blog post. No doubt there are people out there who are grateful for Neil Fleischmann -- who he is and what he brings into their world. A really nice post!
This list is amazing. The exercise (i.e. process) to write it is, I think, an obligation upon all of us. I say I am grateful for things, but am I? How do I know if I don't actively think about the positive things in my life.
Also, what a great list to go back to when feeling "the blues."
Thank you for the inspiration.
- Shloime TAS
thanks so much pearl, it reaffirms my tenacity regarding opening up here. thank you for reminding me that there are people grateful for me. i have done grateful lists before but usually do about five, this time i decided to stream.
Pearl, been swamped and tired. I wrote the response to you Pearl and then wanted to add to it and tended to other things and just decided to push publish now. Better done than perfect.
Shloime, thanks very much. Someone told me that it's a good idea to do a list of five things to be grateful for every day. The trick of making this effective is that you have to do different and specific ones each time. I've seen families where on Friday night they go around the table and say what they're thankful for of the week. Also have seen havdalahs filled with gratitude statements regarding Shabbos. There's something big about actively seeing the good in our lives, that's why it's called hakarat hatov.
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