I'm feeling thankful for many things today.
It's a challenging time in San Francisco, and I'm dismayed by my beloved city's crumbling public infrastructure and glaring income inequality. I'm not pining for some bygone era--it's a tempting illusion to think that SF was at its best when you first encountered it--and yet our current level of dysfunction can't be denied. So I'm all the more appreciative of wonders like the Presidio. Yesterday I watched the sun set from Washington Boulevard and felt so thankful to be there, at that particular spot, at that particular moment. I don't have the answers to San Francisco's problems, but I know it's a place worth fixing.
It's also been a challenging year for me personally, with an emergency appendectomy on top of the more typical ailments of middle age, and it's easy to get fixated on my physical limitations and struggles. But when I take a step back I can recognize how much I have to be grateful for: My aches and pains, while real, are relatively minor. I'm able to hike in Point Reyes and run in Golden Gate Park on a regular basis. And I'm still here, still breathing, still able to enjoy the gift of this existence.
This year I resigned from teaching Interpersonal Dynamics (aka Touchy Feely) at Stanford in order to teach my Art of Self-Coaching course three times a year while maintaining my focus on my coaching practice. This ended my formal association with Touchy Feely, a relationship that began in 1999 when I took the class as a student, and significantly diminished my involvement with a community that has contributed immensely to my growth and development. I generally enjoy working alone, but for this very reason it's essential to maintain my professional relationships in this new chapter, and I'm profoundly grateful to know so many talented coaching and teachers--first among them, my own coach Mary Ann Huckabay, who I saw just yesterday.
There's a long list of other people I'm thankful for as well--Amy and my family, my clients and students, the writers who inspire me--but today I find myself appreciating a group of people whose efforts often go unnoticed: the administrative and technical staff who make it possible for me to teach and to maintain my coaching practice. I'm so grateful to everyone at Stanford and to my clients' assistants--and this is a timely reminder to thank them directly.
Yesterday Mary Ann and I were talking about mortality, a subject I find myself returning to regularly these days. Far from leaving me feeling morbid or gloomy, it makes me thankful. It reminds me that every single moment is an opportunity to express my appreciation. I fail to do so frequently, letting petty grievances and absurd resentments consume my attention. But then a day like today comes along, and it's easy to stop and say: Thank you.
