Gratitude and Oranges

Years ago I tried keeping a gratitude journal. Oprah told me to, and I hoped it would help me through a particularly rough year. I’m a good list maker so I started writing out these long lists of things I thought I should feel grateful for, but I couldn’t feel the love.

I wrote my journal and then stopped, and then I tried again, but it started to seem pushy to keep telling myself all the things I should feel grateful for when I didn’t.

Not one to give up on Oprah’s directives so easily, I eventually tried a different approach.

One day I picked up an orange and really paid attention to it. Have you heard of forest bathing? You could say I orange bathed without realizing it.

I held the orange in my hand and felt the roundness and the weight of it. I noticed its bright orange color and the way it shifted to yellow in some places. I lifted it close to my face and saw the subtle texture of its skin.

I peeled the orange and noted that it was formed into sections, each covered with a web of white veins.

I pulled out one of the sections and removed its translucent skin. I saw that it was filled with tiny juice pouches, and there were so many of them.

How did they even get in there?

I picked out one of the pouches and held it up to the light. So shiny…

How would you even make something like this?!

I considered that oranges are everywhere…  

How loved must I be to have all of this provided for me?

And there it was, all the gratitude.

Later I was doing some nutrition research and discovered that one orange has over 170 phytonutrients (plant nutrients), that we know of. Scientists at the time (~2010) were still studying them and finding more. That’s in addition to the fiber, vitamins, and minerals that are commonly known.

What a gift.

I have an easy time making gratitude lists now, but I still like to use this practice sometimes when I want to boost my mood, and feel appropriately grateful for life. It’s a good one to do with flowers, too.

To sum this up, oranges are amazing (!) and sometimes you have to find your own way to gratitude.