After months of formally giving thanks three times a day, it's easy to begin to let things slip and just say it and dig in… This morning I made some oatmeal for breakfast, I was particularly hungry and just wanted to have at it…well that's not going to work now is it? I made myself sit there, look at the contents of my bowl and think about what it had taken to bring it all together.
       I like to dress things up a bit; along with the oats I had a sprinkle of toasted wheat germ, some walnuts, fresh currants, maple sugar and milk. There was also a pinch of salt in the cooking water.
       Contemplating the contents of my bowl I saw golden fields of oats and wheat, grape arbors lush with ripe fruit, forests of maple and walnut trees. I felt the sun warm my face and smelled the sweet scent of summer rain on the wind. I saw pollinating insects and beneficial microbes in the soil. I saw pastures where cows grazed under the summer sun. I saw farmers and field workers who plant and tend the grain and grapes, who gather the sap and harvest the nuts. I saw packers, shippers, truck drivers and grocery store workers.
       I could go much deeper with this but I think you begin to see the pattern. All of these beings had collaborated to arrive at this point in time and space - my bowl of oatmeal.
       Me, the oatmeal, the truckers and the sun, united by virtue of the food in my belly.
       This humble bowl of oatmeal had become a lesson in connection. You may be thinking that my "oatmeal epiphany" is a bit much and that I'm just a wee bit touched. While you may be right, bear with me for a bit.
       We westerners take a great deal for granted. At the same time, we are most often dissatisfied and rarely truly grateful. Our culture is fueled by the collectively held belief that more is better, that simplicity is not good enough. That we need more, better, different, the newest model, the latest gadget. We are told that by our individual effort we can achieve happiness. That once we have ……. , we'll have guaranteed personal satisfaction and the Good Life. Yet we feel increasingly isolated and alienated. We've become obsessed with looking for the next great thing (purchase, pill, relationship, new-age fad…) that will hopefully once and for all make us feel happy, whole and give us a sense of belonging.
       In all of this we forget to be grateful for what we have. Our culture and most of our religious traditions don't encourage us to be grateful outside of predefined circumstances, and even then it's a habitual act - we do it because it's what is done. What is omitted from our cultural and religious education is that regularly expressing heartfelt gratitude engenders satisfaction with what we have. It is a way of recognizing our true nature, our essential selves and our connection with the rest of creation. As we deepen this practice the gadgets and gizmos that we are told will bring us lasting joy tend to loose their glamour. Religious doctrine begins to sound hollow.
       I am a great believer in the KISS principle. For those of you who've never encountered it before it stands for:

Keep
It
Simple
Stupid

The more things are complicated, the more we get caught up in the outward manifestation, the more we are bound by rule and regulation, by dogma and doctrine, the more our minds close to what is right in front of us. We become blind and deaf and numb to the everyday sanctity of living. One of my favorite lines of poetic spiritual writing is by Rabbi Abraham Heschel;

       There it is. That's it. No fancy dress, no chanting, incense or ringing of bells. No secret passwords, no incantations. No cowans or infidels or gentiles or heathens barred from the sanctum. We are permanently immersed in and permeated with, the sacred.
       Our inherent spirituality requires no doctrine or dogma; it only requires our hearts. With every expression of gratitude, we have an opportunity to remember who we are, to realize that though we are alone in our skin overcoats we are intimately connected with every other manifestation of the sacred.
       Consciously and deliberately expressing gratitude opens our hearts to the hearts of all beings. Once the heart is truly open we no longer see ourselves as separate. This is big. It can take us deep into our true nature.
       Giving thanks before a meal is one step on the path of the grateful heart.
       Acts of gratitude don't require much flamboyance in word or gesture. They require awareness. We have to show up, every time. Just saying the words while half thinking of something else won't do it.
       Becoming conscious takes practice.
       Because it's so easy to slip into routine, I take certain steps to keep myself focused. This sometimes delays my meal a bit if my mind and my stomach are behaving like cantankerous three-year-olds. Awareness requires discipline, just like a three-year-old. I use my breath to help me stay focused.
       Once I have my food and I'm settled, I place my hands close to my plate or bowl, gently cupping it. If I'm in public and don't want to attract attention, I simply place my hands flat on the table on either side of my plate. With my eyes open or closed I take a centering breath, relax and let go of all cares, guilt, planning etc. I ground myself in awareness of my heart. I take another slow deep breath, and speak my words silently;

        I pause here, take a breath, feel my heart fill with gratitude. As I exhale I send this gratitude out and everywhere;