At the beginning of 2014 I began a gratitude
jar. The concept is that each time
during the year when something occurs that touches your heart write it down on
a slip of paper and put it in the jar.
On the last day of the year open the jar and read all of the moments you
documented. I was proud of myself that I
continued the practice throughout the year.
There was an entry from January 2nd as well as one from
December 29th.
As the
minutes of 2014 were ticking away I lit a candle, poured a glass of wine, sat
near the flickering lights of the Christmas tree. I opened the jar. It was a small canning jar that had
originally housed homemade pesto sauce from a co-worker. The jar was tightly
filled with the slips of paper. Slowly I
began pulling the papers from the jar.
Each varied in size. Some
contained a sentence or two while others were a half a page or so.
Many of the
entries were fresh in my mind while others I had totally forgotten about. Here is some of what I found:
I traveled. There was the family reunion in
Ocean City, MD, a weekend getaway to Gettysburg, PA, a spring time camping trip
at Truro MA, two fun evenings in New York City, a weekend spent with my
daughter in Virginia, a summer beach vacation in Cape Cod and a return trip to
Montana for a writing retreat. I guess I
did get around a bit in 2014!
Family
milestones were celebrated. My son
graduated from high school and a few months later he went off to college. My daughter secured her first full time
teaching job and my niece got married.
Some of the
moments were comical. Two non-crafty
friends trying to re-hang curtains brought some good belly laughs! (No worries
HGTV, we won’t be overthrowing the Property Brothers in the lineup anytime
soon!) Or the time when my friend picked
me up for a major league baseball game and when I open the front door and looked
at her we both began laughing uncontrollably.
We were twins. Each dressed in
the same royal blue team shirt and grey shorts!
There was a Lionel
Richie concert under the stars, snowshoeing escapades, kayaking jaunts, hikes
and campfires. There was an entry about
a friend who saw my Facebook post about going to Barnes & Noble on my lunch
hour to pick up a newly released book and she came to meet me there for a cup
of tea!
Now onto the
food, let’s say it is apparent where these extra pounds came from! I shared numerous insightful conversations with
my family and friends over many breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Not to mention
the food at the ball park. Maybe the
cheese steak sandwich, garlic parmesan chicken wings and beer wasn’t the
healthiest choice, but boy was it good!
I savored the moment on each slip of paper
before moving onto the next. I would close my eyes and revisited the scene. Many times I could remember how the sun was
shining or the wind was blowing and sometimes I didn’t. But in every instance I
remembered how someone else made me feel.
With
each memory the paper pile grew, and grew. I sat back and looked at the
overflowing stack in front of me. How
did all of that fit in the one little jar?
It was as if the jar was one of those vacuum space bags that you suck
all of the air out of. You know the kind
that you place and a folded bed comforter that is a foot and a half high and after
a few minutes with a vacuum extracting the air it is six inches tall. When I opened that jar the memories came to
life once more.
Tired and
with a grateful heart I left my pile on the table and went to sleep.
The next
morning I revisited those slips of paper.
The accountant in me appeared. I counted the number of entries and I
charted the people involved in each one.
Sixty three was the number of moments I documented. There were twenty seven different peopled
involved. Ironically, the moments
involving my children were equal!
Whew! I wouldn’t want to be
accused of favoritism!
I concluded
from my analysis that there are three hundred and sixty five days in the year
and I had documented sixty three of them, only 17.3%! That was it!
Maybe I was too lazy, or forgot to compose a jar entry from time to
time. Or maybe I didn’t consider it noteworthy enough.
My gratitude jar taught me a lesson. So often
we focus on the negative instances in our lives and we forget the good moments.
As I reread the entries something became clear.
The memories recorded on the slips of paper were not about material
possession but rather connections; connections with people, places and
synchronistic happenings. These slips of paper contained breadth of life and
when exposed to the air their vibrancy was restored. The richness of life is
not about the trips you take, the meals you consume or the wealth you
amass. It is about the ability each of
us possesses to positively affect one another.
That is real wealth.
