You know, the first person that came to mind was my boss that just fired me. She’d always just hated my guts and I still don’t understand why. But working with someone who outwardly despised me brought up many uncomfortable feelings. Many. Over the course of the year and a half we worked together, though, I had daily opportunities to turn kindly towards myself, despite external…stressors. I bowed inwardly every day I saw her, because her disdain was an invitation to love myself anyway. Still. To accept reality in the form it’s in and to still offer myself kindness. I thanked every moment of discomfort, while feeling the discomfort. She taught me patience, presence, and to return to the home in myself that is always there for me.
Many bows.
Chris Palmore, a.k.a. The Gratitude Junkie, best-selling author of The Mechanics of Gratitude and The Little Book of Grief, Grace, and Gratitude, is a gratitude conductor, coach, and keynote speaker. He has created the anthologies Dear 2020: Letters to a Year That Changed Everything and Dear 2020: Letters to a Year That Changed Everything, and Dear Gratitude: An Anthology, published the journal Gratitude Journey, founded the nonprofit GratitudeSpace Inc., and is a host on GratitudeSpace Radio.