Lynn has found the prayer introduced to us by Peggy Senger Morrison in
her talk and in her book "Le Flambeau Driving School" to be useful and
inspiring. Morrison says that she learned of the prayer from a
Benedictine nun but when I tried looking it up, I found references to
a woman Zen master Sono. The prayer is:
"Thank you for everything. I have no complaints."
In "Le Flambeau Driving School", Morrison explains her introduction to
gratitude practice by way of direction she got from a friend. Peggy
was nearing the end of a counseling practicum and her supervisor had
consistently found her wanting in every way. The friend was also a
counselor and listened to her counseling tapes. He found them totally
acceptable but advised Peggy to approach her closing evaluation
session with total gratitude, carefully and honestly expressed.
She passed her practicum but the point of Sono's prayer is to realize
and stand behind the value of the troubles, frustration, pain and
losses we get while living. When you stop and think about it,
separating the valuable lessons and the lucky connections that came
your way in life from the negatives and errors is not easy. You don't
really know which are which. Admit it: you have finite knowledge,
limited vision and uncertain memory. It would take another lifetime
and divine abilities to follow all the threads through your
development. Why, just the processes at work while you grew from a
fertilized egg to a born baby are beyond your comprehension and mine
and everyone's.
So take Sono's shortcut: don't even try to separate the threads. The
gifts are unending but unsorted. Give thanks for it all. The entire
set produced the marvel you are today!
