Be grateful to everyone.

In my most recent copy of Shambala Sun - a Buddhist bimonthly magazine - I was reading an article about Buddhist truths to help us cope with the drudgery of day to day. The major theme in pretty much every issue, frankly, is that we all have struggles and that non attachment is the way to ease the struggles.

One tip was to be grateful to everyone as you go through the day. Grateful to the people who help you, thankful for the makers of the items that make your life easier or simply just grateful.

So I decided to think of all the people I am grateful to that I don't even know. I mean, obviously, I have immense gratitude to my parents for my very existence. I am grateful for Mike - who loves me inspite of my shortcomings, my kids that amaze me and teach me. For friends that support me and call me out. Blah blah blah- you get it - I am so grateful for my bountiful blessings.

BUT THIS IS NOT THAT.

THIS - the grateful truth - is that we are dependent on each other. I owe a debt of gratitude to the automakers in the plant in the Toyota Kanji Iwate plant that made my car.  I am grateful to the coffee growers in South America for my coffee beans. I am grateful Nils Bohlin, the Swedish engineer and inventor responsible for the three-point lap and shoulder seatbelt. Hell, for inventors of many modern conveniences...electricity, plumbing, forced heat and air, bicycles......

I am grateful for NPR, the Beatles, MUSICIANS, artists, writers, teachers, doctors, shoe designers - I love a good slutty architectural shoe, I really do. I have NO idea what is involved in designing Tsubo shoes....but I love them.

I love my HOT ROLLERS - who ever invented that technology must have been dreaming of my HAIR.

My co-workers who make my day job both challenging and interesting and sometimes fun.

Gratitude for the farmers that grow my food. The truckers that haul it to the store. The clerks who stock the shelves and open up. The soldiers who defend freedom and human rights for all. The animals I live with, the ones I eat. The chickens that lay the eggs...bees that make honey. The cats that soothe and entertain me after a long days toil.

The receptionist at the yoga studio, the bank teller, the UPS person, the road maintenance folks for filling the pot hole and the auto techs who changed my tire.

Gratitude for the men that built my house in 1906.  The women who weave the fabric that my shirt is made from and the sheets on my bed. SO MANY PEOPLE contribute to my day. I could keep going on and on.

This litte truth proved to be sobering. It doesn't matter what you do, but it is so important to someone that you show up and do it. Even be grateful for the RUDE waitress or shop clerk....so you can appreciate when the next one is PLEASANT.

Try it. Be grateful to everyone.

Gandhi said that 'whatever you do in life will be insignificant. But it's very important that you do it'.

Be grateful to everyone.