Gratitude & Generosity
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| Me & Cardinal Dolan |
Full disclosure: I am an extremely (almost scandalously) liberal Catholic, a follower of the Jesuits, the thinkers. The Archbishop of New York, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, is not a Jesuit and I am not a fan, but he said the 7:30pm Mass at my church St. Ignatius Loyola on Sunday and came to the social afterwards, hence the selfie.
It's very complicated to be a woman and a Catholic. As a die hard feminist, I disagree w/ the hierarchy on many (female) issues.
I attended Catholic school in the tumultuous 1960's. My first grade teacher Sister Joshua was learning to play the guitar and had a Beatles wig she used to wear over her severe black habit! She told us Simon and Garfunkel were prophets!
A number of the brand new (young) nuns decided to leave the order, including Sister Joshua, followed by the stern priests who came to our classrooms and condemned the sisters by saying, "You don't choose God...God chooses YOU!" It was very confusing.
So today, like many adults, I have very mixed feelings about the Catholic Church, but my faith in God has never been stronger. St. Ignatius is inspirational, encouraging us to live a purposeful life, and to examine our lives daily for the positive and the negative. It is most important to live w/ gratitude.
Which brings me to the subject of today's post! Gratitude is no less than the secret to a happy life. I have found that relentlessly focusing on the things we are grateful for makes us smile, makes us calm, makes us happy. Everyone's life has truly shitty parts, but if you focus on the shit you will only make yourself miserable. It's not always easy, but we always have a choice. I choose to be grateful for the blessings in my life. (See my recent post on "The 10 Blessings of MS.")
As I said, I am no fan of Cardinal Dolan, but I am grateful that since his arrival @ St. Patrick's Cathedral, girls are finally allowed to be altar servers. For years, this was verboten. I am also grateful that in this picture there appears to be a halo over my head!
Seriously, it may seem odd to include the next G-word - generosity - in a blog about saving money. This, to me, is the essential difference between being "thrifty" - which I define as looking for value - and "cheap" which connotes an entirely different meaning.
My philosophy of thrift is not to pay more than what you have to for the things that you need. Cheap, on the other hand, is the equivalent of selfish. Cheap people think only of themselves. Think Scrooge - bah humbug. Generosity means sharing the "wealth." If I have 2 cents and you have none, I'll give you one of mine.
At Saturday's Stop 'n' Swap, I unloaded a ton of wrapping paper that I picked up on the street because CVS was throwing it out. Must have been 20 rolls of gorgeous wrapping paper - mostly but not all for Hanukkah - lying on the street waiting for the garbage man. The environmentalist in me, not to mention the thrifty blogger, couldn't walk away. I hauled the paper home, gave some to my doorman, to my Jewish friends who came to visit and then brought the rest to the Stop 'n' Swap.
You should have seen the faces on the people (mostly women) at the Stop 'n' Swap. So grateful for the kindness of strangers. It made my day. Giving - to anyone, but especially to people in need - feels very good.
No matter your religion, or even if you are an atheist, gratitude & generosity, in my humble opinion, are the keys to a happy life.
Swift Thrift
An excellent article on saving money when you travel in Sunday's New York Times by the Frugal Traveler Seth Kugel, which I am happy to share.
And check out My Kids Eat Free. You enter your state and get a list of restaurants where kids eat free if you buy an adult meal. The selections in NYC are pretty spare, but other states fare better.
If you enjoyed this blog, please forward it to a friend. I'm very interested in what you think, and if you sign up as a follower of the blog, you can leave a comment and I promise to reply! Thank you!
Keep calm & carry on...Lori Bores
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