My Sentiments Exactly -- Contentment

Every so often I read something that makes me cry out, "Oh god, no! Don't lick that gila monster! Save yourself!"  But this post has nothing to do with that.

Other times I read articles and blog posts that make me exclaim, quite differently, "Yes!  This! My sentiments exactly!" I'm pretty sure that, if I don't get too far off track, this blog post will be about this.

I want to share these things with my readers (not the gila monster thing; that's just sick and wrong). I don't want to reinvent the wheel, wasting my time and yours (and insulting the original author besides), trying to say something that's already been beautifully said. I played around with my blog design some, trying to decide on the best method to share this sort of thing.  Unless you have a better idea, I'm just going to post links as regular entries, with the label, "My Sentiment's Exactly."   I may or may not say much about the link.

The first of such things that I would like to share is this amazing blog entry that a friend of mine shared on Facebook.  I'm not familiar with the blogger, but this is one of those gems that makes me want to go back and stalk read more of the author's posts.

Give Me Gratitude or Give Me Debt

...As I lay down to sleep, I remembered this passage from Thoreau’s Walden: “I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes and not a new wearer of the clothes.” Walden reminds me that when I feel lacking- I don’t need new things, I need new eyes with which to see the things I already have. So when I woke up this morning, I walked into my kitchen wearing fresh perspectacles.

Just go read it already. I'll be here when you get back.

I can relate to this.  I have done this a hundred gazillion times; made the mistake of looking at my lack instead of my abundance. I have just recently been found guilty of being discontent with my kitchen.  All it needs is some TLC-- a little paint stripper and poly on the cabinets, for instance--but it's FULL of TLC on a daily basis. I do try to take care of the kitchen itself, but my tender loving care goes into the people first, the food second, the cast iron third, the trusty old steel knives fourth, the breadboard my dad made just for me fifth, the colony of crickets under the fridge sixth...   You get the idea.  I'm thankful to have a kitchen full of useful items, full of items with character--and even the wear and tear shows that we spend a lot of time there--full of love.  Days that Denny and I cook together and dance to Poi Dog Pondering with the children joining in... those are the best moments of my life. But yes, all those things the author of the blog wrote; all of that.

That discontent sneaks in everywhere, doesn't it? Focusing on the lack gets me catches me out every time. My kitchen, my yard, my home, my children, my spouse, myself. Even reading this person's lovely blog post was a subtle reminder that I haven't been keeping up with my blogs, haven't been writing the way I used to, the way I could.

All thanks to the Flying Spaghetti Monster for the people in my life who don't grow tired of smacking me upside the proverbial head and pointing out the abundance of my life, the richness, the skills and talents I possess that I too often look right past.  (Yeah, you know who you are.)