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I have a great deal in my life for which to be thankful.
I can lead off by mentioning Lis. Every day I see her and wonder how I managed to be lucky enough to end up with her.
And I am also thankful for all the rest of my friends -- all of you reading this (those of you I know in person, and those of you I know only through LiveJournal, too) -- those of you I've known for years, either online or meatspace, and those of you I've only met, meatspace or online, recently.
I'm thankful for my family. I'm one of a relatively few people I know without any family-conflict issues. Again, I don't know how I lucked out to be born into my family, but I'm thankful for it. That is why our family tends to adopt people into it -- a few of you are my siblings simply because my mother and father adopted you. My parents are like that -- if you have a rocky relationship with your own parents, or if you have a GOOD relationship with your parents, but they're too far away for you to see very often, or if you have a good relationship with your parents and you see them a lot but you want MORE parents, too, my parents will take you in and give you love.
And the rest of my family is similar. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins: everyone in my family is honorable, caring, clever, and decent. I don't know how I lucked out to be born into this family.
And then, Lis's family, too -- I managed to marry one of the only OTHER people I know whose whole family is honorable, caring, clever, and decent. I am as thankful for my in-laws as for the part of the family into which I was born.
I am thankful that we appear to have found a medication which controls my Depression, and is allowing me to restructure my life to be effective and productive. I am thankful that I am now in the process of making that restructuring, and that I feel like I am making some progress toward it.
I am thankful that we have a house, for which we paid a reasonable price, and which allows us to have rental income. I am thankful that we rent to good people who I like having as neighbors --![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
marquisedea and her boyfriend Josh upstairs, and vonbeck downstairs. I am thankful that our house is warm and dry, and comfortable. I am thankful that I have a kitchen in which I can cook, and that we have bookshelves full of books. I am thankful that we have plenty of warm, comfortable, and reasonably-good looking clothing to wear, warm jackets, shoes that keep our feet dry.
I am thankful that we have a washing machine and dryer so we don't have to go to the laundromat -- it makes life a lot easier. I'm thankful that we have a dishwasher. I'm thankful for our standing mixer, our electric kettle, our rice cooker, our Henkel's and Wusthoff knives. I'm thankful for our refrigerator, and our pantry, full of food.
On the base of Maslow's pyramid are the physiological needs.
I have, and am thankful for, shelter and warmth, food and water, a comfortable bed.
Next are the needs for security.
We own the house, so we know it is ours. Lis has a good job, and we've paid off most of our debts. Our car works reliably, I have skills that allow me to make extra money, we have health insurance. I live in a town where I trust the local government, where I trust the local police. I believe that my neighbors will help me if I need help; I believe that my society will protect me from the worst ravages of predation. I believe that my local society will help protect me from most crime. And I feel reasonably secure. I believe that I am in no danger of losing my shelter, food, water, or place to sleep. And I am thankful for that.
After that, on Maslow's hierarchy, is the need for love and belonging, and my cup overflows. I can do nothing BUT feel thankful for this, since it was given to me for no virtue I have, but simply by the luck of the draw. What else can I do but feel thankful for my good fortune in being born into a family of love, and for finding good friends throughout my life?
Then there the needs for esteem -- the need to be respected, to respect others, to respect yourself. It's important to feel that people appreciate you. Depression can make one feel worthless, and my Depression is being treated, so I no longer have those feelings of worthlessness.
I know that the parents, Board, and students at the Hebrew School feel that I do a good job. I can see when I explain concepts to kids, and they get them. Caterstaff uses me as one of their go-to bartenders for difficult jobs, because they know I can do it. Lis feels that, now that the Depression is under control, I'm doing a good job at taking care of the house. I have friends who look forward to seeing me. Adam Gaffin seems to like my writing well enough to link to it on Universal Hub sometimes, and I've been metaquoted sometimes, so I feel that people like my writing. I am thankful that people recognize and appreciate the things I do well, and that they let me know that.
And then, on Maslow's pyramid, we come to the "growth needs" -- all the needs up until now have been needs of survival. But once you have those, you can start doing even more, according to his theory. We need intellectual stimulation, and I have that. We need to appreciate beauty, and I have that.
So I find myself thankful that I have the ability to start to work on what Maslow calls "self-actualization." I can now work on perceiving reality accurately -- physically, socially, spiritually, and emotionally; on being factually and emotionally honest with myself, other individuals, and society as a whole; on having a personal freedom based on integrity and self-possession; and on trusting myself, and trusting reality.
And I find myself thankful to have that opportunity.
And I am also thankful for all the rest of my friends -- all of you reading this (those of you I know in person, and those of you I know only through LiveJournal, too) -- those of you I've known for years, either online or meatspace, and those of you I've only met, meatspace or online, recently.
I'm thankful for my family. I'm one of a relatively few people I know without any family-conflict issues. Again, I don't know how I lucked out to be born into my family, but I'm thankful for it. That is why our family tends to adopt people into it -- a few of you are my siblings simply because my mother and father adopted you. My parents are like that -- if you have a rocky relationship with your own parents, or if you have a GOOD relationship with your parents, but they're too far away for you to see very often, or if you have a good relationship with your parents and you see them a lot but you want MORE parents, too, my parents will take you in and give you love.
And the rest of my family is similar. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins: everyone in my family is honorable, caring, clever, and decent. I don't know how I lucked out to be born into this family.
And then, Lis's family, too -- I managed to marry one of the only OTHER people I know whose whole family is honorable, caring, clever, and decent. I am as thankful for my in-laws as for the part of the family into which I was born.
I am thankful that we appear to have found a medication which controls my Depression, and is allowing me to restructure my life to be effective and productive. I am thankful that I am now in the process of making that restructuring, and that I feel like I am making some progress toward it.
I am thankful that we have a house, for which we paid a reasonable price, and which allows us to have rental income. I am thankful that we rent to good people who I like having as neighbors --
marquisedea and her boyfriend Josh upstairs, and vonbeck downstairs. I am thankful that our house is warm and dry, and comfortable. I am thankful that I have a kitchen in which I can cook, and that we have bookshelves full of books. I am thankful that we have plenty of warm, comfortable, and reasonably-good looking clothing to wear, warm jackets, shoes that keep our feet dry.I am thankful that we have a washing machine and dryer so we don't have to go to the laundromat -- it makes life a lot easier. I'm thankful that we have a dishwasher. I'm thankful for our standing mixer, our electric kettle, our rice cooker, our Henkel's and Wusthoff knives. I'm thankful for our refrigerator, and our pantry, full of food.
On the base of Maslow's pyramid are the physiological needs.
I have, and am thankful for, shelter and warmth, food and water, a comfortable bed.
Next are the needs for security.
We own the house, so we know it is ours. Lis has a good job, and we've paid off most of our debts. Our car works reliably, I have skills that allow me to make extra money, we have health insurance. I live in a town where I trust the local government, where I trust the local police. I believe that my neighbors will help me if I need help; I believe that my society will protect me from the worst ravages of predation. I believe that my local society will help protect me from most crime. And I feel reasonably secure. I believe that I am in no danger of losing my shelter, food, water, or place to sleep. And I am thankful for that.
After that, on Maslow's hierarchy, is the need for love and belonging, and my cup overflows. I can do nothing BUT feel thankful for this, since it was given to me for no virtue I have, but simply by the luck of the draw. What else can I do but feel thankful for my good fortune in being born into a family of love, and for finding good friends throughout my life?
Then there the needs for esteem -- the need to be respected, to respect others, to respect yourself. It's important to feel that people appreciate you. Depression can make one feel worthless, and my Depression is being treated, so I no longer have those feelings of worthlessness.
I know that the parents, Board, and students at the Hebrew School feel that I do a good job. I can see when I explain concepts to kids, and they get them. Caterstaff uses me as one of their go-to bartenders for difficult jobs, because they know I can do it. Lis feels that, now that the Depression is under control, I'm doing a good job at taking care of the house. I have friends who look forward to seeing me. Adam Gaffin seems to like my writing well enough to link to it on Universal Hub sometimes, and I've been metaquoted sometimes, so I feel that people like my writing. I am thankful that people recognize and appreciate the things I do well, and that they let me know that.
And then, on Maslow's pyramid, we come to the "growth needs" -- all the needs up until now have been needs of survival. But once you have those, you can start doing even more, according to his theory. We need intellectual stimulation, and I have that. We need to appreciate beauty, and I have that.
So I find myself thankful that I have the ability to start to work on what Maslow calls "self-actualization." I can now work on perceiving reality accurately -- physically, socially, spiritually, and emotionally; on being factually and emotionally honest with myself, other individuals, and society as a whole; on having a personal freedom based on integrity and self-possession; and on trusting myself, and trusting reality.
And I find myself thankful to have that opportunity.
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I love you. *hugs*
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I'm thankful I know you and Lis and your parents and your sister and I could just go on for paragraphs and paragraphs about how you've enriched my life. *hugs you tightly*