To keep me company on the long commutes to North County, where I work, I’ve been on a podcast frenzy. I listen to a slew of NPR podcasts, from the phenomenal “This I Believe,” “StoryCorps” (of which I’ve used several in my class) to the hour-long “Hearing Voices.” NPR also had wonderful readings by Tobias Wolff and Jhumpa Lahiri from their new books on Book Tour. Then, I exhausted the entire New Yorker Fiction podcast archive, particularly relishing the stories of John Cheever, Donald Barthelme, and Mavis Gallant. And after I exhausted all my usual resources, I turned to Oprah’s Soul Series.
I had come across the podcasts after searching for audio by Eckhart Tolle (author of the much-revered The Power of Now). Several people had recommended the book to me this summer, and Oprah has several interviews of him on podcast.
But I’m backing into the story the wrong way. Those podcasts are phenomenal, and I’m getting through them, and looking forward to reading the book. What happened is, Tolle’s voice is far too gentle for my rumbling car on the I-5, and so at first I listened instead to Oprah’s interview with Sarah Ban Breathnach, author of Simple Abundance.
The book’s been around for more than a decade, but it’s the first I heard of it. What struck me most in the interview was the need to be grateful in your life, and that gratitude is a path to grace. How many times in these last weeks have I complained instead of being grateful? Oh, I lost my voice. I can’t believe so-and-so did or didn’t or say or didn’t say this or that. Getting pulled into others’ drama. Reliving my mistakes. Wringing my hands over my future. Worrying about where I’ll be next summer. Feeling like there’s so little time for me in my own life. What I needed, if anything, was a reminder of all the good there was in my life.
So I went out and borrowed the book from the library. I immediately felt a kinship with it. The book details six creative and spiritual principles: gratitude, simplicity, order, harmony, beauty and joy. These are discussed in mini-essays, one for each day of the year. Last year, I sought guidance in The Artist’s Way, cementing my decision to follow a creative path. Perhaps Simple Abundance will help guide me this year. I feel I just need a little push.
The Jan. 1 essay begins with a quote from Zora Neale Hurston, “There are years that ask questions, and years that answer.” I’m not sure which the last has been, but it has been challenging: career change, major move, death, life. I know I wouldn’t change my life for anything, but the stress consumes me. How could gratitude, simplicity, order, harmony, beauty and joy NOT help me, or anyone, for that matter?
On this journey, you keep a Gratitude Journal, in which you write down five things you are grateful for that day just before you sleep. You should try it, too. I’ll begin.
Today, I’m grateful for…
1. Half time off from work so my body can heal and rest.
2. The comfort of my home, particularly my kitchen that feeds me and my bed that cradles me.
3. The “new” kitchen shelving that fits perfectly between the oven and the counter. I’ve been looking for such a thing for a year and found it today on the side of the road. I’m such a dumpster diver!
4. The sweet text message from B, still out of town on work.
5. My sewing machine that has produced a cute—albeit imperfect—blouse for me.
With happy thoughts, good night.
