Day 17 - The Gratitude Breakfast Club

Hello,

And welcome to the Gratitude Breakfast Club,

A quick morning meet-up to help you jump-start or maintain your gratitude practice.

We'll make it quick,

Because we know you have things to do on this beautiful day.

Hello,

Beautiful ones.

October 3rd was National Poetry Day in the United Kingdom,

And of course,

I am taking the belated opportunity to tap into the wisdom of poets.

National Poetry Day started in the UK in 1994 as a day to encourage people to make,

Celebrate,

And share poetry.

Each year has a different theme,

And the theme for 2024 is counting.

The following poem is by an American,

But fits the theme.

Linda Paston was an award-winning poet who wrote more than 15 books of poetry and essays,

And who served as the Poet Laureate of Maryland for some years.

This is her poem,

Counting Backwards.

How did I get so old,

I wonder,

Contemplating my sixty-seventh birthday?

Dyslexia smiles.

I'm seventy-six,

In fact.

There are places where at sixty they start counting backwards.

In Japan they start again from one.

But the numbers hardly matter.

It's the physics of acceleration I mind,

The way time speeds up as if it hasn't guessed the destination.

Where,

Look,

I see my mother and father bearing a cake,

Waiting for me at the starting line.

Paston mixes despair with joy in this short poem,

Not unusual when we contemplate our mortality.

But today I encourage you to focus on the appreciation of time passing by.

If you're not yet seventy-six,

What do you hope to be appreciating at that age?

What would fill you with joy?

And of course,

If you are seventy-six or older,

Take this prompt as an opportunity to reflect back.

With love,

Appreciation,

And gratitude,

This is Karen.