A blog that’s really blowing my skirt up these days is The Art of Manliness – a practical guide to doing manly stuff  that has fewer boobie pictures but more heart than most men’s sites (yes, Maxim and AskMen I’m looking at YOU).   AoM presumes that men want to know something about character, as opposed to the 10 best ways to nail a woman in a nightclub bathroom.

Last June, AoM came up with something called “30 Days to a Better Man.” Each day, they challenged readers to undertake a task that will  help them improve. On Day 5, the challenge was to, “Cultivate Your Gratitude.” They wrote many excellent reasons for doing so, but this one line jumps out at me:

“The grateful man is a humble man. He has no illusions of his grandeur. He knows that bad things happen to good people. He knows how easily a rally can turn into a slump. He knows how much worse off many others are than he is. He understands the sacrifices others make on his behalf. And he deeply, deeply appreciates them.”

Within minutes of posting my desperate note on Friday, I received a message from a woman I’ve never met, who offered me money.   A few moments later, I received a comment from a friend I haven’t spoken to in a while. She said that if she could, she would love to help out.  She told of a co-worker who helped her in a time of need and how she vowed to not only pay it back, but pay it forward.  They were small gestures, but I felt far less bleak about my circumstances after that.

I want those people who read my entry and thought of doing something for me, or for anyone, to know that I deeply appreciate it.  What you did is the act of a grateful person and I can only hope that I have the chance to respond in kind. I don’t know if this is what AoM had in mind, but it’s a start.

(BTW… this could be in no way connected…OR maybe the universe is listening because my karma seems to be turning around;  shortly after I hit publish on this highly-distressed post,  I was offered  nine weeks of work shooting a TV series. Thanks cosmic forces.  You really turned that mother out….peace.)

Be Sociable, Share!

•