This Dharma Thought on Nurturing Gratitude is from an August newsletter written by Steve Allison-Bunnell of the Joining Rivers Sangha which meets Mondays at 7pm
[One] Friday night [in August], our car suddenly needed a new alternator and battery, and I was supposed to drive to Missoula in the morning. A recipe for suffering, or dissatisfaction with the world as it was, if there ever was one. But I was rescued at the auto parts store, where not only were the parts in stock, but they also called a friend who ran a mobile repair service. Barely an hour later I was headed home, our old Subaru purring along. Thich Nhat Hahn taught, “If you aren’t experiencing gratitude, you are suffering.” Indeed, thanks to the practice, that hour was filled with gratitude instead of anxiety. Through the Eyes of Interbeing, I experienced the auto parts store as a sangha: a DIY community of people helping each other keep their cars running. I was delighted to partake in its casual, mundane generosity. Where do you find Sangha in unlikely places? How do you nurture gratitude when it’s easy to suffer?
