On the Cusp of Gratitude

Kick the resentment habit, give yourself a break, and feed the good wolf.

On an ordinary sunny spring morning, I walk around my Island home as if all is right with the world. I try desperately to stay present to the beauty around me. The fat red-breasted robins are happily feasting in the grass right outside my front door. The brassy buttercups, sprung up overnight, light up the field like a tangle of fairy lights. The familiar sound of the ferry horn blows through the morning fog. I feel genuinely happy for a moment when I step into the warmth of the hoop house and discover that the cosmos have germinated without the benefit of a heating mat. An orange poppy has bloomed.

But inside my head I’m waging my usual battles, with the added aggravation of worrying about the world at large.