“There are a multitude of ways you can cultivate a sense of gratitude.” The Art of Pilgrimage, page 205
This is the gate to the city of Pamplona, Spain.
In the memoirs I have been reading about the Camino, all pilgrims seem to mention the immense sense of gratitude that they feel upon reaching the gate of a city, or the outskirts of a city that is their destination for the day. This special threshold heralds the upcoming proximity of the albergue, or pilgrimage hostel, their shelter and respite for the night.
I spoke of Waking Up in my last blog post, and I realized that one of my favorite ways to Wake Up to my life is what I call the Appreciation Buffet.
I carve out 10 or 15 minutes in my day to sit down and reflect on all the things that immediately come to mind, in that moment, that I appreciate.
These are things that are really easy to appreciate, and the key for me is that I can easily feel (italics) a strong feeling of appreciation when I focus on them.
Things on my list: my dog Cinnamon making snow angels or how the light shining through my stained glass panels enlivens them.
I don’t just create a list. It doesn’t matter if there are only one or two things on the list. It matters that these are powerful things for me, and that they evoke that full, wonderful feeling of great and deep appreciation.
Visiting the Appreciation Buffet wakes me up the abundance that is my life.
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