Note: I need to figure out the rules for what constitutes blogging, writing the post or posting it. This was done yesterday but I made a mistake in posting. I’ll give myself credit for consecutive days even though it wasn’t posted on consecutive days.
365 Days Blogging – 2 of 365
Handstand Push-up’s – Worked on 5 Tibetans
Dinner with friends – 0 of 12
Words of Fiction written – 0
In yesterday’s post announcing my 365 days of blogging birthday challenge I mentioned that I have a theme. And for the big reveal…. Gratitude and Desire.
We have a custom around our house, and I suspect we’re not unique, where when someones birthday is approaching we ask them what they want. For as long as I can remember my answer to this question is nothing. I’m lucky that I have a lot of nice things in my life and I thought that the best way to show my gratitude was to not want anything. It actually turns out to be just plain laziness.
I’m starting to see gratitude and desire as a yin and yang of accomplishment.
This actually plays out in a few of my books too. In The Seamus Chronicle Seamus has a strong desire to finish his dark energy reactor and provide power to the world. Not until the Robinson family makes it across post-apocalyptic America and Seamus realizes how lucky he is to have his family does he come up with the final steps to get his invention working. His desire was powerful and driving, but without gratitude it wasn’t enough.
On the flip side, gratitude alone doesn’t lead to much beyond good feelings. If Einstein stopped working after his first successful proof and basked in the gratitude for being allowed to work on such interesting problems he wouldn’t have gotten to the Theory of Relativity.
I suspect many of us have been shamed into not wanting something. Have you ever told a friend that you want a raise, a better job or a new car only to be told you should be grateful for you already have? Well they’re not mutually exclusive. You can be grateful that you have a job and still want a new one.
In our current world, desire left unchecked by gratitude is a larger and more visible issue. It turns passion into obsession and compassion into competition. These are going to be big themes in my next two series.
I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to write fiction, but I want to sell more books. So while I share about what I’m writing and how I’m working there will be a consistent slant to the information that acknowledges the challenge of balancing gratitude and desire.
