Big Idea: Meditations on Gratitude
Posted on Oct 9th, 2007
by 
Brian
Brian
Meditations on Gratitude
Whenever I pay a bill or buy something, I try to pause for a moment to appreciate the incredible array of people who made that transaction possible.
I’ve mentioned the power of the interconnected web of people involved in the creation of any simple transaction a couple times...
Let’s meditate on a hypothetical drive:
You’re in your car.
Who sold it to you? Thank you.
Who financed it for you? Thank you.
Who owns the car dealership? Thank you.
Who cleaned it for you? Thank you.
Who shipped the car to the dealer? Thank you.
Who built the roads the truck drove on? Thank you.
Who built the stoplights? Thank You.
And…
And…
And…
And…
And…
That isn’t even scratching the surface…
Now pick a part of your car. Any one of the hundreds of components. Trace its life. Thank all the people involved in its creation.
We are so incredibly blessed. And it is so incredibly easy to forget this and just how much we depend on the love and service of others to do the most basic things in life…
"…life could be vastly improved if we could count our blessings as self-actualizing people can and do, and if we could retain their constant sense of good fortune and gratitude for it."
~ Abraham Maslow, 20th century humanistic psychologist
from Motivation & Personality
Here’s a ritual of mine:~ Abraham Maslow, 20th century humanistic psychologist
from Motivation & Personality
Whenever I pay a bill or buy something, I try to pause for a moment to appreciate the incredible array of people who made that transaction possible.
I’ve mentioned the power of the interconnected web of people involved in the creation of any simple transaction a couple times...
Let’s meditate on a hypothetical drive:
You’re in your car.
Who sold it to you? Thank you.
Who financed it for you? Thank you.
Who owns the car dealership? Thank you.
Who cleaned it for you? Thank you.
Who shipped the car to the dealer? Thank you.
Who built the roads the truck drove on? Thank you.
Who built the stoplights? Thank You.
And…
And…
And…
And…
And…
That isn’t even scratching the surface…
Now pick a part of your car. Any one of the hundreds of components. Trace its life. Thank all the people involved in its creation.
We are so incredibly blessed. And it is so incredibly easy to forget this and just how much we depend on the love and service of others to do the most basic things in life…
"Getting used to our blessings is one of the most important nonevil generators
of human evil, tragedy and suffering."
~ Abraham Maslow, 20th century humanistic psychologist
from Motivation & Personality
of human evil, tragedy and suffering."
~ Abraham Maslow, 20th century humanistic psychologist
from Motivation & Personality
Access: Public
big ideas
August 2008 
And Who created that beautiful view as you drive …
:)
Grateful for the gratitude!
hah!
brilliant!!
Thank You. Much Love & Peace
Brian, this is wonderful – thank you for the inspiration to honor the web in daily life
here’s a somewhat related idea: whenever I pay a bill, I give thanks for the abundance that makes it possible to pay it – it feels like a way to cultivate both gratitude and “abundance mentality” – quite a different mindset from how most people pay their bills, I think
thank you BeLynn.
and, YES!!! Kira. I often trace my abundance back to ALL the people who made it possible.
ahhhh…
so inspiring.
must write about this more.
:)
thank you.
Brian,
Thank you for this! I love the process and use a similar one often when with food. One can add in the eating and digesting part too and it becomes a full body centered, earth centered experience.
The words that come to mind are “the elegance, intricacy and interconnectedness of flow”.
namaste,
Z
beautiful…
thanks, z!
…I am thankful for the opportunity and sentience to be thankful…just to be aware of All There Is to be thankful for blows my mind !…
…I am thankful for you Brian and all those that have helped make Zaadz a reality…
thank you, will.
bow.
Gosh, I now have a permalink to gratitude … it won't stop. Yes, Brian, I'm grateful that you pushed my grateful button to the on position. Let me go push someone else's grateful button. One less division, one great gratitude, one great love … and we are living it.
love it, satya-seer.
in gratitude,
-bri
simply wonderful.
Peace,
Justin
thanks, justin!
-bri