The Weekday Ramble is a daily dose of sports, music, culture, and more from Rambling On founder Erik Ritland. For more information check us out on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, or at our website.
Wednesday February 11, 2015
#LoveWeek continues at Rambling On with reasons to be in love with life and a poetic tune from Erik Brandt.
I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder
- G.K. Chesterton
A short appreciation of being alive
It’s a good habit to meditate daily on all the things you appreciate and love in life. Common sense dictates, and science has backed, that thinking positively legitimately helps. It helps the person doing it and sends out something good into the universe, too. I occasionally mock people who say “you’re in my thoughts” (as if thoughts actually help anyone) but in a non-practical way any positive vibration helps the world. Just not as much as, like, actually helping someone.
When I meditate on the things that I appreciate – in the form of prayer – I begin with the things I feel are the most superficial. I’m thankful, and love, my car. My house. My job. The food I eat. The enjoyment I get out of drinking and listening to sports talk radio. Coffee, whiskey, beer, water. They’re all so wonderful! Loving things like that is the foundation of being in love with life. Taking every drink like it’s your first – or may be your last.
I eventually meditate on how grateful I am for more important things. Like breathing. People talk about miracles being really out there and crazy, but if you think about it every breath you take is a miracle. Health also is. Seeing, whether it’s someone you love, a beautiful sunset, or out the window at work, is a miracle. I’m thankful for seeing. And for hearing, whether it’s my favorite song or directions I need to follow to get something practical done. I can see! I can hear! I can touch! I can breathe! It’s pretty awesome if you think about it.
Finally, I consider the most important things in life. Friendship, for one. How underrated is friendship? Conversations with friends, and seeing them, is sometimes reduced to just a “part of who we are.” It’s more than that! It’s holy. Then, of course, there’s family. I hate how easy it is to take family for granted. If there’s one thing everybody can do it is spend more time with their family. And appreciate them.
The most important thing to be thankful for is life. Life is harder for some people than others, I understand that. Although I see people around me that have a lot more than me I feel like I’m overly blessed to have the things that I do. Most people reading this are in the same situation. It’s easy to complain and wallow and be negative. But it’s destructive. Although it’s intuitive to love and to be in love it’s not always easy. It’s easy to forget all good things that we have.
That’s why it’s important to take some time every day to think about all the things that make life worth loving.
A love poem
Lately I’ve been listening to my friend Erik Brandt’s wonderful love song “Just One More Time” practically on repeat (check it out here). It’s a lovely piece of melodic, catchy pop/rock and its lyrics delicately describe love with subtlety:
Take whatever it takes to build a mountain up to the heavens
And I will take whatever it takes to climb it to meet you there
Just one more line, just one more rhyme
Just one more time
If I conjure up these dreams of you will you come true?
And all this time I was only practicing for the symphony
Of our song, of our tune, that we knew separately all along
Just one more line, just one more rhyme
Just one more time
If I conjure up these dreams of you will you come true?
If you’ve ever been in love you understand just how perfect those lyrics are. I hope you’re in love.
Erik Ritland is a writer and musician from St. Paul, Minnesota. His blog and podcast Rambling On features commentary on music, sports, culture, and more. He is also a contributor for Minnesota culture blog Curious North. Support Erik's music via his Patreon account, reach him via email, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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