I find the phrase
Holding my experience with gratitude
a more effective way
of being grateful for all of my experience
Not just the fun times
or the loving relationships
but also the difficult, frightening,
overwhelming and overall
challenging times
Not easy for sure
but it does lend itself
to allowing for the realization
that this is just the experience
I’m having
Instead of putting all my energy
into wishing it wasn’t so
It opens the door to
a different way of being
and seeing more clearly
This holding of experience
is akin to seeing without judging
Letting go blame or guilt or shame
Clearing the slate so to speak
Holding with gratitude
interrupts the critic and the naysayer
literally putting on hold
the longing for a different experience
And frees me up
to walk a different path
with this body in this life
which is the only one I’ve got