Your Body, Your Temple ~ Gratitude

Today meditate on and consider what there is about your body for which you can be thankful.

For some of us, I know this is more difficult to do than to others.

Some of us have excellent health. For those of you reading this, those without age related issues, illness, or physical injury, consider those of us who are not in your boat. Maybe you are carrying a little extra weight around the middle or wrinkles and thinning skin are beginning to show, or perhaps cellulite and age spots are the issues, but we all get those. You’re not alone. But some of us are more alone.

There are others among us who, when we reach a *certain age* where we are *somewhere over 30*, who have begun to seen more breakdown in their bodies. Knees that make funny noises when its going to rain… Backs that won’t straighten when we get up in the morning… The inability to touch one’s toes (unless you’re sitting on the toilet). Yeah, I’m there with you… ish. I know that you’re feeling the fact that *winter is coming* but you know that once the kinks get worked out you’re generally good to go.

And then there is this whole other group of us with extra difficulty with finding the things to be grateful for in bodies that dysfunction so we have to be a little more creative:

I’m thankful that I have one good leg.

My dysautonomia with orthostatic tachycardia means my heart is hella healthy and my normal blood pressure rivals that of an Olympic athlete.

I may have had 9 or 10 vascular surgeries but none of them were because of plaque or anything of that nature.

My immune system is so powerful and strong that it could mask 5 antibiotic resistant infections simultaneously while I didn’t even look like I had a cold.

And my body is simply amazing at clotting!

Maybe we all have some difficulties in our bodies, and maybe some of us have more than others, but the realty is that we also live in a time and live in societies where we have access to clean water, healthy food, and basic (or not so basic) medicine that make our ills and ailments much less than what our ancestors would have to contend with.

Sometimes we just need to remind ourselves how much better we really have it than what the pain or discomfort we have in our body feels like in that moment.

At the end of the day, don’t forget to share your gratitude with others, whether you choose to come back and comment here, to write your thoughts in a journal, to send your feelings to a friend or loved one, or to create change in your world to pursue fulfillment and contentment, think back on the prompt and build in yourself gratitude for the blessings that have been showered upon you!

Come back tomorrow for more gratitude mindfulness.