Satima's Blogspot: Fifteen thoughts of gratitude

Wednesday, 3 September 2014

Fifteen thoughts of gratitude

Wednesday, September 03, 2014 |

Posted by Satima Flavell

There is a meme going around on Facebook that requires participants to name three things they are grateful for, every day for five days. Lorraine, a Facebook friend, challenged me to join in. I found it so thought-provoking that I decided to collate my responses and republish them here.

Day One:
1) I am grateful for the ability to turn on a tap and have clean water whenever I want it.
2) I am grateful for my dear little apartment in a secure building that I have for very moderate rent.
3) I am also grateful that I live in Perth, surely one of the most beautiful cities in the world - and with a nice warm climate!

Day Two:
1) I am grateful for the privilege of rearing my five beautiful children
2) I am grateful for my amazing grandchildren
3) I am also grateful that I still enjoy reasonably good health in old age, and that I am fit enough to attend belly dance and keep fit classes and to teach my own class on Theatrical Dance for mature adults.

Day Three:
1. I am grateful for the opportunities I've had to exercise my talents, mediocre though they may be. I've been involved with dance, music, acting and writing and sometimes I've even been paid! But like everyone who loves the arts, I have willingly undertaken assignments gratis if I've liked them enough.
2. I am grateful that I'm still fit enough to dance and still have good enough eyesight to write.
3. I am grateful that Satalyte Publishing bought my first novel, enabling me to get the story I've sweated over for so long out there for all the world to read!

Day Four:
1. I am grateful for the fact that ever since I was two years old — D-Day in 1945 — I have lived in countries at peace and been free to travel wherever I wished (or could afford!)
2. I am grateful for the marvellous tuition I had when I was young, in dance (Scully-Borovansky and Beth Dean, inter alia), music (Sydney Conservatorium) and acting (NIDA).
3. I am equally grateful for the tuition I've had as an adult in dance (Valrene Tweedie, WAAPA and others) and in writing (various people via the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre.)

Day Five:
On the last day, my three gratitudes pertained to matters spiritual.
1. I am grateful that I live in a land where freedom of religion is taken as a given. At different times in my life, I have practised Christianity, Wicca and Buddhism (both Tibetan and Theravada) sometimes more than one at a time. I also practise hatha yoga in the Iyengar method.
2. I am grateful to my spiritual teachers in all those disciplines for their instruction, advice and support. Christianity gave me an appreciation of the power of prayer: Wicca taught me the power of ritual, Buddhism taught me the power of sitting in meditation and yoga taught me power of moving in meditation.
3. I am also grateful to my tutors in the secular domain who encouraged my reading and research when I was studying for my BA in Religious Studies. An intellectual understanding can often prepare us for the inner understanding that is essential to all true spiritual practice.

I think I’ve covered every dimension of my life and realised how much I have to appreciate!

2 comments:

Louise Reynolds said...: All wonderful things to be grateful for - and what a wonderful short trip through your life to date, Satima! Fascinating.; Thursday, September 04, 2014
Satima Flavell said...: Thanks, Louise! It was certainly a much deeper experience than I expected.; Thursday, September 04, 2014

Fifteen thoughts of gratitude

2 comments:

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