The Mindfulness Blog

I love my grandkids for a lot of different reasons-- they're all so different and they're constantly evolving, as they grow older. One of the things they all share in common, however, is an appreciation for one of my favorite singers-- Rafi. And my personal favorite song of his is the title of this post.

The title pretty much tells us all we need to know, but what really resonates for me is the quiet tone of the melody and Rafi's gentle rendering-- both capture the underlying meaning of the song. Even a toddler can hum along and remember the words!

The other thing that really lands for me is the fact that it's never too early to learn about-- and feel-- gratitude. It really is the food of life. Gratitude for the people, places and things that are important, and make us happy.

It's easy to think of gratitude as a syrupy kind of sentiment, and I suppose that's on us, because gratitude is anything but syrupy or sentimental-- it's a powerful emotion that gets a bum rap, for reasons that are not totally clear to me.

Bottom line: Gratitude is something we all feel from time to time-- for a number of different reasons-- but it somehow doesn't seem to be "cool", and that's a shame. As I get older, though, it's less and less important to be "cool" and it's much more important to recognize gratitude, in those moments when I'm feeling it.

A tip of the hat to Rafi-- and to my grandkids. Lessons, it seems, can be learned in the most unexpected of places!