Ok so I talked a lot of shit about our obsession with technology in the last post, so I wanted to tell this story, give credit to the technology, and “out” myself as a techie-nerd iPhone-lover as well as the earth-mother nature-appreciator that I am.
Last weekend, a friend and I were sitting outside a cafe as the sunny afternoon turned into evening. We were half-a-block up from the art gallery Fifty24SF and I had read about an art opening there that night.
It wasn’t displayed on a flyer, I didn’t read about it in a newspaper under “art openings.” I knew about this art opening because I read about it online. And I didn’t just read about it online – I read about it on Instagram.
My mom is reading that (and you may be too) thinking “I have no idea what she’s talking about.” My mom never learned about something and grew to love it because of a photo sharing social application on her phone. That sentence didn’t even exist not that long ago!
I knew about this art opening, and most of the background behind it, because I follow David Choe on Instagram.
So as my friend and I walked around the tiny gallery that night, I found myself explaining the show’s backstory to him… that David Choe is a famous artist and the works on the wall were by his mom Jane and his buddy Critter.
And as more and more information came out of my mouth I realized that the only reason I knew any of the things I was saying was because of an application I downloaded to my cell phone.
I love the underground(ish) art scene happening all around me, and am grateful for Instagram for giving me a closer peak inside it.
@davidchoe @sylviaji @rekaone @osgemeos
@upperplayground @mr_aryz @einesigns @samagram12
So I just have to be clear – while I am genuinely embarrassed and concerned by how addicted my generation is to our cell phones, I am still very grateful for the richness it has brought into my life.
And let’s not overlook that I was able to create both of those collage-pictures and load them to this blog in a matter of minutes purely thanks to apps on an iPhone.
This morning I sat on the bus for 35 minutes next to a couple who never once looked up from their individual iPhones. They were talking to each other at least but the conversation 100% revolved around their devices. How to reset their mail count, which version of the phone they had, had they downloaded the new IOS, what did people say about it, how many people had downloaded it, etc etc etc.
I almost got up and moved to another seat.
Technology is great, sure. It’s enabled us as a civilization to accomplish so many amazing things. I mean, I can push a button on a screen and then tell you the song that’s playing on a nearby speaker (Shazam is my favorite app ever). I intentionally built a career for myself in digital media when I started understanding the things that it was going to enable businesses to do. But after 5 years, I’ve found myself wedged in a digital corner surrounded by hours and hours of work and energy-spent that makes ZERO actual impact on the world. Yesterday, at the office, I had my more-common-that-is-healthy mini-meltdown about it.
This shit is out of control you guys.
But right, this blog is about gratitude. I’ve been wanting to post about this for a while. Well, since Thanksgiving of last year. My friends Todd and Eric hosted dinner at their place for the first time and I went over early to help set-up. Eric didn’t want any phones out or even nearby during dinner. He didn’t want any phones out or nearby at all.
One of my jobs in setting up dinner was doing all the lettering; name cards for the table, “put your shoes here” for the entrance, and “put your phone here” for the basket he’d set aside for our phones.
I was legitimately concerned that people would feel uncomfortable parting with their cellphones, so as I sat down to make a sign about it, I thought about a way we could position this so people would be open to it.
Cell phone day care. With “be here now” written all the way around it. Your phones are a part of you, we know. We’re not asking you to abandon them, we’re just opening up an opportunity for you to have some time apart.
To my surprise, when our friends saw the basket, most of them immediately happily threw their phones right in. It took me a little while but eventually this glass rectangle became such an unwanted distraction so I willingly and happily threw mine on the pile too.
And I’m not sure if it was completely responsible (the food and the company were amazing as well), but that was one of the best nights I’ve had among friends, ever.
SO. I’m grateful for the perspective that even though technology has changed our world for the better in a lot of ways, I still know how much better it is to look up, look out the window, and talk about something real with your friends.
Next time you’re out with your friends, make a pile and look each other in the eye instead of Siri.
Each time you find yourself in complete awe of your life, try this little trick. Sit still for a second and ask out loud (to no one in particular), “How could it ever get better than this?”*
Eventually you’ll forget that you asked the question, but then something new will happen and you’ll realize – the Universe just answered it. All of a sudden, that blissful feeling which you thought couldn’t possibly be topped – had been topped!
8 years ago I was sitting at the edge of the world on a dark and cloudy day at the Cliffs of Moher, just breathing in all the amazingess of my life (had just spent 8 weeks traveling Western Europe) and I thought, “how could my life ever get better than this?” Two minutes later, the clouds parted just in time for us to watch the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean. I still look back on that moment as one of the best of my life.
When I sat there and wondered about that moment getting any better, I thought, “no way, not possible, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, and maybe the happiest anyone anywhere has ever been.” The Universe had been listening and took that as a challenge. In lightly sweeping those clouds away, the Universe responded, “You’re not sure if this moment can get better? Watch this.”
How can it ever get better than this?? I have no idea but I’m excited to find out!
*I was taught this little trick by the amazing Alexandra Kavanah of AQUAMANTRA
I’m grateful for it all.
Tonight I decided to order delivery for dinner because somedays, you just don’t want to leave the house.
I ordered it from Beautifull in Laurel Heights through Eat24SF.com. It’s a Saturday night, 7:30pm, so I expected it to take a while. My email confirmation said 60-90 minutes so I kept on “puzzling,”* as my roommate would say, and only started looking at the time about 60 minutes later.
At about 75 minutes I chatted the online support thing just to be sure (I have been burned and gone to bed hungry once before) and they said my food would be here in 15 minutes. Perfect.
Then maybe 5 minutes after that, I get a call from an unknown number and it’s this perky, high-energy fella saying “Hi! This is Aaron with your Beautiful delivery” and proceeds to apologize for the wait and explain they had a bit of an issue with a previous delivery, etc etc etc. I told him it was no problem at all, thanked him for the phone call, and clued him in on the best way to get here from Masonic.
I had already left a 20% tip on my credit card when I placed the order, but because Aaron took the time to call my cell phone from his cell phone to give me an update on my food (that he was driving to me and would carry straight to my front door!) on what I can imagine had already been a busy and stressful night, I decided I was also going to give him the $6 in cash I had when he got here.
When the buzzer finally rang, I opened my door to a smiling larger guy, completely out of breath (I live on the third floor). He hands me my food and I hand him the cash, explaining that I’d already tipped them but that because of how awesome he was, I wanted to give him more. He was speechless and grateful. So speechless he almost walked away before telling me he put an extra meal in my bag because someone made it by mistake and he thought, “why not?”
“Ah ha!” I said, “see, everything works out for everyone!”
Aaron was considerate and thoughtful, I was patient and appreciative. And because of that energy loop we created, we both walked away from a potentially negative and upsetting situation with a warm fuzzy feeling that everything was happening just as it should be.**
I’m grateful for my Karma, which just happens to be written on the necklace I’m wearing right now.. which I’m also very grateful for as well.
*”Puzzling” refers to when you are sitting on the floor of your living room for hours working on an impossible puzzle and enjoying every minute of it.
**k it’s kind of an assumption on my part that he felt that too.. but come on, he probably did.
I cringe when I hear someone say that they wish they were younger. I think back on all the work I’ve done to be the 31-year old woman I am today – all the demons I’ve exercised, the fear I’ve gotten to know, the sadness I’ve given space to. Every year I’m closer to my “true” self who’s been buried under the unconscious patterns I picked up along the way. I’m grateful for my growth and for my courage to keep going. And I recommend you start doing the same.
A while back my sister asked me to make a big “be grateful” for her 6th grade math & science classroom. So I bought my go-to paint colors, some paintbrushes and two canvas thingys, and happily created another version of the message.
Two weeks ago when I slowly made my way out of the desert after Burning Man, and slowly made my way back on the grid, the first text message that came through was from my sister:
It makes me really happy when anyone takes on this message, but especially happy when it’s someone younger. If “be grateful” is the only message that kids hear from me, I won’t have to say another word.
I am. So grateful.
-Credit for the title of this post given to the Black Eyed Peas. Some strong, fast, energy force just called that lyric to mind as my cursor sat blinking in the “title” field. Elizabeth Gilbert would call that “energy force” my “elusive creative genius.” And I am grateful for that too.
I’m wrapping up my two week vacation and just realized what I’m truly grateful for.
I just spent a week on another planet in another dimension, otherwise known as Burning Man in Black Rock City. I took my brain out and flipped it around a few more times, saw unbelievable things and really saw so much of the amazing beautiful magic that makes up my amazingly beautiful life.
But what I’m truly TRULY grateful for, is coming back home to the places and faces I love.
I love you!
Grateful for endorphins!
A few weeks ago I found a new spin studio and fell in love immediately. The faces that greet you when you walk in are warm and friendly, and the spin instructors are funny but they mean business – they will work you. You ride on smooth Livestrong bikes in front of a huge screen with a projector showing really high quality video footage of actual bike rides throughout the world.
I’m so excited and grateful to have found this studio and to be adding this level of cardio back into my life because raising my heart rate elevates much more than just my heart beat. I just got home from class and feel energized, strong, lighter and happier (hence the nod to endorphins as a way to kick off this post).
And while this isn’t at all a “health and exercise” blog, I will take this opportunity to encourage you to get up and take advantage of the absolute miraculous gift that is your body. Take care of it, it takes care of you.
With the exception of a few extra-special souls, none of us can see into the future. We don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow. But barring some major interruption, we can still at least plan for tomorrow with some reasonable expectation of it happening the way in which we’ve planned.
But – sometimes, there is an unexpected, unfortunate “major interruption.” You know, like falling off a third story balcony and taking an 8-month break from your “normal” daily life. Sometimes life throws a curve ball that smacks you directly in the face, knocks you on your ass and leaves you on the bench for an inning or more. If you do find yourself alone and in pain on the bench, the trick becomes how you deal with watching the game from the sidelines when you’d rather be playing.
…
My friend Stephanie was sitting pretty in her life in San Francisco; working at Yahoo, planning trips to New York, dating, loving, laughing, living. Then almost two years ago, out of nowhere, everything changed.
She casually mentioned one night that she was seeing floaters in her right eye and a black crescent moon shape on the bottom of her vision, so she was going to go get it checked out. Turned out her retina was detaching, and would detach 5 more times over a year until finally stabilizing, leaving her with 20/5,000 vision (aka – blind) in that eye.
Her left eye is now showing signs of weakness and she’s facing a potential future that none of us can say out-loud. The overall message from her doctors is – “we’re not sure why this is happening or what you can do to stop it from continuing.”
Over the course of the past two years, I’ve seen my beautiful friend deal with a level of fear and depression you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. She wakes up every morning to the sunlight coming through her window, not knowing if she will see that light tomorrow. She hugs her nieces goodbye not knowing if that’s the last time she’ll see their faces. But through it all, she’s held on to the faith that she can get through this challenge that the Universe seems to think she needs. She has good days and bad but more-often-than-not, she rises to the challenge and refuses to let the fear of a sightless future prevent her from soaking up the sunlight and beauty in front of her.
She got a tattoo to remind herself of the choice she gets to make…. chose love, face life, and have faith that it’s all going to be OK, no matter how hard..or dark.. it gets.
…
Today and everyday, we should all be SO grateful for our eye sight. Nothing in this life is certain. You don’t know what tomorrow will look like, or even if you’ll be able to see it. Go outside and look at something beautiful and feel a deep sense of gratitude for the gift you continue to be given. Have faith that no matter what tomorrow looks like – you can chose to see something beautiful, with your eyes or just with your heart.
be grateful please ™ 