If there's one thing I've tried to concentrate more than anything else over the past two months, it's appreciation and gratitude. Let me explain.

I'm really not so concerned with "please" and "thank yous." We're trained from a very young age to acknowledge these phrases and utilize them. How often are you truly appreciative of something when you utter "thank you?" Consequently, when you finish a request with "please," isn't it typically more of an expectation? For example: "I'd like a large Coke, please." Is there really any doubt? And what purpose would the "thank you" really serve? Being polite is not a reflection of appreciation. It's a reflection of social compatibility and responsibility.

So - what the heck am I talking about? Okay...this might sound crazy. In fact, it's gonna sound real crazy. But let's start at step one.

I'm grateful to be alive. I'm grateful to breathe.

Okay well everyone who's reading this is alive....fair enough. So let's take it a step further. Can everyone who's reading this hear properly with their ears? Almost certainly not. Does everyone who's reading this have full control and motion over their two arms and two legs? Almost certainly not. Ten fingers? Almost assuredly not.

Further, not everyone on this blog can breathe as easily as me. Some might have lung issues, or more commonly, even asthma. How fortunate am I to be able to breathe unrestricted, without thought, and without effort?

I know this is a lot to take in. I know that we never acknowledge, let alone appreciate how fortunate we are to be able to see, hear, smell, etc. But if you were to go blind, or lose a limb....every single moment of your life would be dedicated to rectifying that lack. Just because you have these abilities doesn't mean they're unimportant. In fact, they are some of the most important elements of your entire being. Most human interest stories about people who've become injured focus on their struggles to regain their strengths - these people will dedicate years if not their entire lives to regaining control of a leg, or an arm. And yet we abuse our limbs - never truly appreciating what life might be like if we didn't have them.

I remember I used to consider fine dining one of the great pleasures of the world (and I still do). But before your next fine meal, you might want to consider how fortunate you are to have an arm and fingers that can allow you to handle a fork/chopsticks so elegantly. Take it a step further and you'll realize how lucky you are to even have tastebuds. Because without tastebuds, food would merely be fuel - there would be no pleasure.

In Oliver Sacks' The Man Who Thought His Wife Was a Hat, he discusses a variety of his patients with clinical neurological deficiencies. In "The Mariner," he discusses a 49 year old man who can only remember his life story through age 19. Which got me thinking....when was the last time you felt appreciative for your lucid thought? During my past three poker players years, I've spent the bulk of my time decrying my opponents as "monkeys" and praising my own superior mental abilities. But although I deserve recognition for the effort I've dedicated to improving my mind, I need to acknowledge how fortunate I am to have the potential to think some deeply. Go another step: I'm grateful that I don't have amnesia, dementia, or even simpler neurological issues. Take it a step further, and I need to acknowledge my gratitude that I can think at all.

Again, like my last blog post, this isn't the rule to life. No one is going to walk through life feeling entirely appreciative of every minute detail. But at the same time, I think most readers will agree that we're not appreciative enough. And that needs to change. Before you chomp down into that next sandwich, consider how fortunate you are to (a) have delicious food available on demand and (b) have enough disposable income to purchase it without any thought.

I'm curious if you guys feel you don't put enough thought into true gratitude. I know that I didn't (and still don't). I'm also curious if you think these are things we should be grateful for at all - perhaps you'd argue we have an expectation to our limbs, food, etc without any deeper thought. If so, let me know.

Love,
Ezra