Pillowbook of Prudence…

Some years ago, I heard about Oprah Winfrey’s Gratitude Journal… that each day, one take a small moment for reflection and jot down five things that one could be grateful for in that day. Oprah’s idea was that no matter how black the day, how deep the depths and how hard it might be to keep one’s head above the water, there was always something, maybe more than one thing, that one could find for which to be grateful.

So I found a little notebook in a cupboard that day and I began my Gratitude Journal. Every night before I sleep, I jot down five things. When the notebooks are filled, I read back through them and then tear them up and consign them to a fire. They are mostly my personal things… not for others to read.

It’s rare that I forget to write my five things… and even through some tough times of severe family illness and loss, I have never not been able to find at least five things to be thankful for. Oprah was right… there’s always something…

Grateful for:

1. A day that was birthed in Paradise. Blue to infinity. Clear, cool air that freshens the lungs and the mind. Calm… no breeze, so that one could hardly identify the real from the  reflection. A day in which to feel that all is well.

2. OH has had a day without fever. The first for seven days.

3. The beach… deserted but for me, the dogs and the dotterels. Small waves plopping themselves on the shore. Hardly a noise. Soothing.

4. Young Dog looked at me as if she loved me. Not slavishly… just a blink of brown eyes and a quirk to the mouth and a nudge to my leg. As if she was saying, ‘Yep, you’ll do.

5. Embroidery… the whisper of silk thread pulling through silk fabric and the sight of a leaf growing before the eyes. The cool feel of the fabric as one holds it. The smell of silk… redolent of fabric shops in Thailand. Bolt upon bolt of the most sumptuous fabrics lined up like books on a shelf.