Squiggle & Heart, No. 49

This one goes out to my teacher Joan Halifax, who recently I’ve been listening to talk about gratitude as the foundation of joy.

Yesterday, like thousands of other New Yorkers, I got caught in a commute nightmare when an underground fire caused Jay Street/Metrotech to lose all third rail power. The result for me (and I was a lucky one - some people got caught in the tunnels for an hour) was a 2.5 hour trip that should have taken ~45 minutes. The last half hour was spent walking in the rain when I had to give up on the overcrowded, not-arriving buses. At first I was pretty miserable, but eventually I took a moment to take stock of what I had: an umbrella, good shoes, clothes that were ok (not great, but ok) for the temperature, and a home to go home to. Once I sat with that gratitude, my whole attitude changed. I put music on, gave myself some great pizza for dinner (thanks, Nate’s Detroit) and arrived home grateful for gratitude itself.