Peter, your exploration of gratitude feels like an invitation to slow down and tune into the quiet symphony of life. Fred’s story is particularly striking—a reminder that gratitude isn’t just a feeling but a discipline, a creative act of reorienting ourselves to the world. It brought me back to an essay I wrote, where I realized how even small moments of acceptance (over something as trivial as two lost brioche buns) could be transformative when met with the right mindset.
I loved Fred’s insight about gratitude being a vehicle for belonging. Do you think this sense of “belonging” arises because gratitude dissolves the barriers between us and the world, or does it stem from recognizing how deeply interconnected we already are?
Your parallel to John Coltrane struck a chord—it’s that beautiful tension between improvisation and awareness, the inner imagination dancing with the outer world.
Thank you for reminding us that gratitude isn’t passive—it’s a doorway to freedom, creativity, and a deeper connection to life itself.
Excuse me, but I have to rant. Not ever against you and your gentle sweetness. Unfortunately, today I don't feel one scintilla of gratitude, although I usually do experience it. All I feel is a horrible sense of impending doom and I don't feel safe. I argued with my husband for hours because he wants to stay put in this G-d-forsaken country and I want to leave it. He doesn't understand how much I have learned about and identify with the Holocaust. He doesn't realize that I can recognize what is Nazistic and what isn't. He cannot identify that he would have been the first to go had he lived under Hitler. Man, that was some argument! I said our marriage was a 40-year mistake! He said I am a fanatic. Well, yes, I am. I have been a fanatical anti-Nazi for many years now. And if we don't get the House, there will be NO guardrails to protect us from Trump's minions. How much did anti-Semitism contribute to this horrendous result? Because Kamala's husband is Jewish. How much was it male chauvanist piggery and the Stepford Wives that obeyed their husbands? How much of it was hatred of LGBTQIA+ people? How much of it was lust for money? Joe Biden was the best POTUS we ever had and our country threw him on the trash heap. No respect for an elder statesman who did so many things to make our lives so much better. I remember when Ruth Bader Ginsberg died. Whoops, there went Roe v. Wade. And now we are going to get Christianity groomed into our children and shoved down our throats. Hey, I'm an ex-Catholic and I don't want it. Grateful? Sorry, not today. Maybe tomorrow. Still married. . . .I guess I'm grateful for that.
Peter, your exploration of gratitude feels like an invitation to slow down and tune into the quiet symphony of life. Fred’s story is particularly striking—a reminder that gratitude isn’t just a feeling but a discipline, a creative act of reorienting ourselves to the world. It brought me back to an essay I wrote, where I realized how even small moments of acceptance (over something as trivial as two lost brioche buns) could be transformative when met with the right mindset.
I loved Fred’s insight about gratitude being a vehicle for belonging. Do you think this sense of “belonging” arises because gratitude dissolves the barriers between us and the world, or does it stem from recognizing how deeply interconnected we already are?
Your parallel to John Coltrane struck a chord—it’s that beautiful tension between improvisation and awareness, the inner imagination dancing with the outer world.
Thank you for reminding us that gratitude isn’t passive—it’s a doorway to freedom, creativity, and a deeper connection to life itself.
Excuse me, but I have to rant. Not ever against you and your gentle sweetness. Unfortunately, today I don't feel one scintilla of gratitude, although I usually do experience it. All I feel is a horrible sense of impending doom and I don't feel safe. I argued with my husband for hours because he wants to stay put in this G-d-forsaken country and I want to leave it. He doesn't understand how much I have learned about and identify with the Holocaust. He doesn't realize that I can recognize what is Nazistic and what isn't. He cannot identify that he would have been the first to go had he lived under Hitler. Man, that was some argument! I said our marriage was a 40-year mistake! He said I am a fanatic. Well, yes, I am. I have been a fanatical anti-Nazi for many years now. And if we don't get the House, there will be NO guardrails to protect us from Trump's minions. How much did anti-Semitism contribute to this horrendous result? Because Kamala's husband is Jewish. How much was it male chauvanist piggery and the Stepford Wives that obeyed their husbands? How much of it was hatred of LGBTQIA+ people? How much of it was lust for money? Joe Biden was the best POTUS we ever had and our country threw him on the trash heap. No respect for an elder statesman who did so many things to make our lives so much better. I remember when Ruth Bader Ginsberg died. Whoops, there went Roe v. Wade. And now we are going to get Christianity groomed into our children and shoved down our throats. Hey, I'm an ex-Catholic and I don't want it. Grateful? Sorry, not today. Maybe tomorrow. Still married. . . .I guess I'm grateful for that.