For those of you who may have been keeping tabs, I have quite the complicated homelife with regard to religion. When I my wife and I let it be known that we planned to marry part of the deal was that I convert to Islam. This was, of course, many moons ago and I don’t know if I would have made the decision so lightly were I to face it now but my practice was much less developed and defined and I was able to gloss over things that I would today view as breaches of precepts. The point is that now and forever in the eyes of her family and even to my otherwise Buddhist wife, I am a Muslim who fasts and celebrates the religious holidays. Somehow I manage to get away without praying but the rest is always an uncomfortable dance because I have found my refuge and it is in the Tisarana.
Nothwithstanding, there was something quite beautiful that the imam said during the khutbah that got me thinking. Islam has a lot to say about noble qualities of the heart like gratitude and filial piety but all of it is, of course, takes its meaning from Allah. Still, I think an attitude of gratitude and appreciation to all beings is a beautiful thing to help cultivate an open heart.
Anyway, let me get to the point: imagine if you woke up tomorrow with only those things you were truly grateful for. In other words, everything in your life for which you hadn’t stopped to appreciate would be gone. What would you be left with?
Cattāri Brahmavihārā 
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