What a Burst Pipe Taught Me About Gratitude

Posted on March 25, 2013 by zoeweil
Image courtesy Nick Busse/Flickr.

Recently, a pinprick hole in an old pipe caused a flood in my husband’s office, which also serves as the guest room in our home at the Institute for Humane Education (IHE). Not only were the walls, ceiling, and carpeting ruined, but a huge repair job loomed.

My husband turned off the water to stop the continued flooding, and we called the plumber. They couldn’t do anything until the ceiling was demolished, which would enable them to get to the pipe that was the culprit. The plumber recommended a local mold mitigation company, and they were able to come over within two hours. Several really nice, really hard-working guys worked all afternoon and the next morning to solve the problem, and the plumber came back and fixed the leak so that we had water again in our home.

Another friend (who is a builder and who turned our old barn into a guesthouse for the students at IHE using found and recycled materials) came out right away to take measurements for replacing the flooring.

Meanwhile, the mold mitigation people have been talking to our insurance company on our behalf.

Meanwhile, my husband’s work as a veterinarian is flexible enough that he was able to get home from work to clear out his room and minimize the damage.

That night when we sat down to eat dinner and held hands for our nightly ritual, during which we share something for which we are grateful, I realized how tremendously grateful I felt for all the wonderful people who made what could have felt like a disaster not such a big deal.

It’s gratifying to feel gratitude, to know that in the midst of what might otherwise feel overwhelming and terribly upsetting, I can actually feel appreciation and thanks as my dominant emotions. That’s what I learned from our burst pipe.

~ Zoe

Zoe Weil, President, Institute for Humane Education
Author of Most Good, Least Harm; Above All, Be Kind; and The Power and Promise of Humane Education
My TEDxDirigo talk: “The World Becomes What You Teach“
My TEDxYouth@CEHS “How to Be a Solutionary”

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The Ongoing Gift of Gratitude

Posted on November 29, 2010 by zoeweil

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, “Thank You. No, Thank You,” we learn that giving thanks is good for you. Not a big surprise, but post-Thanksgiving, it’s nice to be reminded that cultivating appreciation and thankfulness is a win-win all year round. While this article reveals what most of us already know from our life experience (and common sense), it’s interesting that actual studies demonstrate that when we experience gratitude we’re healthier, happier, sleep better (and even earn more money). Cultivating gratitude is good for kids and teens, too; not exactly a surprise, but something we might want to help our adolescents, in particular, to experience. In our family, we have made it a ritual to hold hands before dinner and each say something we’re grateful for. Unfortunately, too often, the answers have became rote, but I have insisted on the ritual nonetheless. I think it’s important.

On Thanksgiving morning before anyone else in the family awoke, I spent some time reflecting upon what I was grateful for. I composed an email to the staff of the Institute for Humane Education where I work, because my gratitude to them felt so deep I had to express it. And it felt so good to compose this expression of thanks. Then I took my dogs for a walk along the ocean and continued thinking about all that I was grateful for, and I noticed that I was smiling as I walked. Indeed, gratitude feels great.

So, post-Thanksgiving, remember to reflect upon your own gratitude each day. It will help make your life, and the world, a better place.

With thanks to those of you who read my blog :)

Zoe Weil
Author of Most Good, Least Harm and Above All, Be Kind

Image courtesy of cheerytomato via Creative Commons.

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Go Out and Seton Watch!

Posted on July 16, 2010 by zoeweil

In my last post I wrote about Seton watching, a form of nature observation in which one sits quietly and observes a small window in the natural world for at least 20 minutes. I’ve chosen to do this daily at our pond, and it’s been amazing what I have observed. I recently wrote about observing the rescue of two damselflies. I only noticed this because I was Seton watching and paying close attention.

Over the course of the past two weeks, I’ve been watching a multitude of frogs and salamanders at every stage of development. There are tiny, gilled newts, and full grown salamanders, and red efts ready to emerge for their time in the woods. There are tadpoles from half a dozen different species, all in various phases of their transformation into frogs. I’ve been watching them grow their rear legs, and then their front, and move onto land, and slowly reabsorb their tales. I’ve listened to the trilling of tree frogs, the peeping of peepers, the honk of bullfrogs, and beeps of green frogs. My foot has been the way station for an emerging frog. I’ve noticed the way in which some species of tadpole are bold, while others quite shy and how the full grown salamanders are the most skittish of all, ascending quickly for air only to dive down to the depths as fast as they can.

I’ve watched huge water scorpions swim laboriously as they paddle through the water with skinny legs. I’ve watched hundreds of damselflies with their iridescent blue backs mate and dip their fertilized eggs into the water. My legs and arms have been the resting spot for many.

Mostly I don’t know much about what I’m observing, at least not in the scientific sense. I don’t know the names of the different species of tadpole, nor the life cycle of the water scorpion. I could find out of course, and I likely will; but I am experiencing so much just through observation, and I’m reluctant to turn to books quite yet. I want to discover what I am able to learn and know by carefully watching what’s around me.

I recommend such an activity to everyone, but especially children. In our media-saturated, indoor- or sports field-focused world, we neglect to experience the magnificent natural world that sustains us all. We do this at our peril, as a failure to cultivate our wonder often results in our failure to protect what we neither experience, nor understand, nor love.

As I’ve said before, please go outside; for yourself and the world. And try sitting quietly in the same spot each day for 30 minutes and notice what comes.

Enjoy!

Zoe Weil
Author of Most Good, Least Harm and Above All, Be Kind

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