Thank You, Martin Luther King
Today as we appreciate Martin Luther King Jr. let's take an opportunity to acknowledge our privilege. Our gratitude practice is one way we can look at the privilege we have with humility and appreciation. Instead of defending ourselves saying we don't have privilege and instead of being so full of shame for benefiting from systemic racism that we freeze with shame.
What rights, benefits, advantages or immunities do you have that others do not? Privileges are systemic, unearned and expected. It can be hard to recognize because when we have privilege it seems invisible, or it may seem like everyone has it. Some examples: Being able to shop without being followed by security. Being able to wear a Band Aid that matches the color of your skin. Being able to take time off of work to celebrate religious holidays. A good indicator of privilege is feeling cheated if we don't get a privilege that we are accustomed to. One simple example I like to use is about hotel shampoo. If you are traveling and forgot your toiletry bag, you will be able to have access to shampoo that works for your hair; that is if you are white. Imagine if the only available option was Pink Oil lotion. Wouldn't you feel cheated?
When you discover a privilege that you have, share your gratitude for that privilege. It can be tempting to think that we have earned everything that we have accomplished in our lives. But when we look deeper, we realize that so many people have helped us along the way, we have been at the right place at the right time with the right resources, we have been taken seriously. There are so many layers to everything. I like peeling back each layer and finding gratitude anew with each one. Right now, I am grateful for the privilege of having a meal delivered to me earlier. I am grateful for having access to a phone to call in that order. I am grateful for the people who made my food. I am grateful for the people who picked the lettuce. I am grateful for having access to lettuce in the middle of winter. I am grateful for the farmer who planted a seed and nurtured my lettuce until it was ready to be picked.
It is humbling and overwhelming to acknowledge the myriad privileges that we have that others do not. From this place of humility we can open our hearts to help others. We can utilize our position of privilege to fight for systemic changes that even the playing field. We can put our gratitude into action and make the world a better place.
Critical thinking without hope is cynicism. Hope without critical thinking is naivete.
~Maria Popova
What privilege are you grateful to have?
LEARNING: At this point I am pretty open about my gratitude sharing. But every once in a while there is something that I am grateful for that I don’t write down because I want to keep it private. This is one disadvantage of sharing my gratitude. One day this week there was something I felt grateful for that I wanted to share, but I would have violated another people’s privacy, so I didn’t. In that moment. It was nice to acknowledge my gratitude without words. I gave it a nice moment of silent acknowledgment before moving on with my written gratitude.
FORGOTTEN GRATITUDE: Last week I was also grateful for That huge smiling moon hanging low in the black sky … I can’t believe I forgot my sniffer gratitude! Cashmere and silk, I feel so grown up (ironically).
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[su_note note_color=”#e7e7e7″ text_color=”#686767″ radius=”0″] My gratitude journey started in May 2011 and continues to this day. Thank you for being a part of it! A daily gratitude practice is simple. Write down three things you are grateful for each day. Download your free GratitudeGuide. My clients focus on gratitude and learn from their successes to make the positive changes they want in their lives. You can too. Call me to set up our first meeting 505.333.9336. [/su_note]