Simple Gratitude
Presence Leads to Thanksgiving
Here is something worth noticing: you cannot be fully present and ungrateful at the same time. Try it. When we are truly here — breathing freely, feeling the warmth of our mug, and sitting peacefully in our favorite chair — complaint is nowhere to be found. Gratitude isn’t something we manufacture. It is what naturally surfaces when we stop long enough to see what is already here.
In Choosing Presence, Jim Heaney quotes Eckhart Tolle on why we so often miss being present. Jim writes, when we are not in the present moment, “you are struggling to reach a point in the future where there is greater security, aliveness, abundance, love, joy… unaware that those things make up the essence of who you are already.” This is a scarcity mindset. It forces us to live in the future, always reaching, never arriving. And it convinces us that we need something more.
Presence changes this mindset. Jim reminds us that even our breath is a gift — “Breath is the life force,” he writes, tracing it back to Genesis, where God breathed life into humans. The Hebrew term ruach means both breath and spirit. Which means the most ordinary thing you are doing right now, without effort or achievement, is already a gift being given to you. Abundance is not something to be earned later. It is here, in this breath.
This week, let presence do the work. Come into the moment, look around, and simply say thank you.
Brian Mueller – Poet, Community Organizer, and Spiritual Guide
Brian Mueller is a poet and community organizer based in Dayton, Ohio. He serves as Director of Education & Engagement for ChoosingPresence.org and is an active member of the Ohio Chapter of Illuman, where he co-leads writing retreats that support men’s spiritual journeys. As a writer, Brian is known for his candid, accessible poetry, with works including Cock‑A‑Doodle‑Doo: 100 Morning Haiku, the Poem of the Day series, and the Bull Series. Inspired by poets like Rumi and Mary Oliver, he believes everyone carries the voice of a poet within.
