Gratitude
194.8
Ugh. As you can see from the above number,
my diet is not progressing well. I
managed to gain the weight I dropped last week, plus some. I’ve got a number of
excuses. My schedule got re-routed several times this week and I had no indoor
contingency plans set up when my outdoor exercise got rained out almost every
day.
But
I’m not giving up. Even I can learn from my mistakes, right?
The hiccups in the diet plans are only a few
of the frustrations I’ve been facing this week. Among those are the amount of
time it is taking to get my second novel, The
Dragon of Doughton Park, published and the paucity of time I’m finding to
do any writing (including this blog). I promised readers that Dragon would be
available around the end of June, and here it is, months later, and still not
ready. The characters in Red Wolf Rising,
the third Red Wolf novel, are anxious to see some action, a great number of
writing ideas are festering in my brain, and my efforts to work writing time
into my new job schedule are failing miserably.
What to do?
Well, things could be worse… much worse. This
is what we in the recovery community call life
on life’s terms. And I was taught many years ago by some very wise people
that the solution to these frustrations lies in the practice of the spiritual
principle of gratitude. Having been desperate enough in the past to try it
myself, I know that it works.
Being grateful doesn’t mean I have to
passively stand by and let the world tromp over me, but if I take the time to
look at the blessings I have in my life it takes the focus off the negative and
changes my attitude. And it’s my negative
attitude about life’s frustrations, not the frustrating things themselves, that
cause me so much grief.
So here goes…
I have been blessed with some talent for
putting words together and I’m living in a miraculous period of history when it
is relatively easy to develop that talent and share it with a world-wide
audience. Self-publishing a book nowadays is not all that expensive, and I am
blessed with friends who are willing to devote their free time out of interest
and support to help me in the endeavor.
I have a job that is paying most of the
bills. I work with some wonderful people in a helping profession. Unlike many
folks, I can go home at the end of the day feeling that I did at least one
thing worthwhile for my fellow man.
I have an interesting and supportive family,
including a teenage son who, as of this writing, is not doing drugs, running
with some gang, or getting some girl pregnant, and whose company is both
delightful and entertaining.
I have an active imagination, which many at
my age have lost, that has already provided me with enough material to keep
writing the rest of my days (even if I myself turn into a werewolf and live for
a thousand years). I have a safe, comfortable place to live, more food than I
ought to eat, a small group of wonderful friends, and relatively good health.
And I did
write some this week. I wrote the first scene of a short story I hope to share
with y’all soon (the working title is The
Alchemist’s Ledger), finished the prologue to Red Wolf Rising, and wrote a very fun scene in the back story of
Clifford and Claire, the one where they meet for the first time.
Oh, and yesterday I discovered another
5-star review of The Draculata Nest
was posted on Amazon, bringing the average rating up to 4.4 out of a possible
5. That really warms my heart.
Wow, I feel better already.
If you
want to feel better, try a little gratitude yourself. That, or click one of the
links below and escape into the world of the red wolf for a while. Or, try both
things at once, no telling how good
you’ll feel!
Until next time... Happy Reading!
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