“It is not happiness that makes us grateful but rather gratitude that makes us happy.”
– Rene Descartes
I have been reading a poem in class recently. The poet is Marie Howe whom I had heard interviewed by Krista Tippet in her podcast On Being.
The poem is as much about her younger brother’s death from AIDS as it about not taking things for granted and being grateful for even the most mundane things.
The Gate by Marie Howe
I had no idea that the gate I would step through
to finally enter this world
would be the space my brother’s body made. He was
a little taller than me: a young man
but grown, himself by then,
done at twenty-eight, having folded every sheet,
rinsed every glass he would ever rinse under the cold
and running water.
This is what you have been waiting for, he used to say to me.
And I’d say, “What?”
And he’d say, “This” - holding up my cheese and mustard sandwich.
And I’d say, “What?”
And he’d say, “This”, sort of looking around.
I hope this inspires you to commit or re-commit to a daily gratitude practice.