Expressions of Gratitude: Listening and Learning More

The act of gratitude can be expressed

by deep listening.

Sitting through discomfort

unease

a willingness to receive

new and sometimes uncomfortable truths.

To take that new knowledge

and turn around and seek more information.

It’s not looking away

even when you’re worldview is challenged

even when the pain of witnessing feels

too much.

For if you are able to pass beyond

what feels like the death of self—

the self before,

the self of ignorance,

the self of systematic conditioning—

You are able to see through a different lens of truth,

you are able to become a more compassionate, aware, determined to seek justice human.