Wednesday, Thursday, & India

10 points to anybody who can tell me which one of the things in the title isn't like the others...

I'm grateful for: Friends and coworkers who are open minded to new experiences, the opportunity and resources to be able to experience new cultures and visit old friends, people (specifically coaches) who are willing to take a chance on me however inexperienced I may be, new outlets for my competitive spirit, long/hard runs and the addictive elation that I get from endorphins, once again the helping hand and the loyalty of friends... I'm sure there are more but I've just forgotten them...

As I imagined at the beginning of the week in terms of writing things down to remind myself of what I'm grateful for, it's much easier to do that as the day wears on. I've often heard people of many different faiths and religions say that prayer is never something you do one time a day, five times a day, or any other sort of calculated or designated time of the day. Rather, prayer is an ongoing thing that happens between a certain soul and its creator. In essence, one is constantly in prayer because their thoughts are constantly on God. I think the same thing rings true for being grateful. In fact, one could say that being grateful and turning your thoughts on God are one in the same, but I wouldn't say that's the case for everybody (for it depends quite significantly on your worldview). Anyway... if we are constantly thinking about the things for which we are grateful, we are constantly in a state of gratitude and this radically changes our perspective on how life unfolds for us. I guess that's the point of the articles I posted at the beginning of the week, but I thought I'd reiterate.

The idea of a constant state of gratitude radically changing our outlook on life has quite a lot to do with my next upcoming adventure: India. Traveling for me is not just about seeing the world and experiencing new things and taking pictures to remind myself of the places I've been. I welcome travel because it's the only time in my busy life when I can forget about everything else that's going on around me and simply focus on living in the moment. In this mental and emotional state, nothing else matters but where I am and with whom I'm there. I can free my senses and my thoughts to intake the fullness of life as its meant to be experienced without having to bog down my existence with plans for the future or worries about deadlines and tasks. If you've ever traveled much before, you'll know that you get the most satisfaction out of simply "going with the flow" or going to wherever the wind might take you. You've got to pay attention to the wind, but I've had the most profound experiences in my life (not just in my travels but in my entire life) when I follow my intuition without thinking about it too much. The only time I've ever been able to truly do this is while I'm traveling. It ties back into this idea of gratefulness effecting our perspective because allowing ourselves to be fully immersed in our surroundings is the only way we can truly see what exactly is around us. Thinkin too much of things that are not in our immediate surroundings ultimately blocks the tangible, sensual, proximal experiences of our lives.