Project Gratitude #000 – Kick-off

Starting a big project today, a series of posts to express my #gratitude to hundreds of individuals who had a positive impact in and on my life.

Why today? It’s such a special occasion, World Gratitude Day, a celebration I must have missed previously. Ironically, I read last night that Sri Chimnoy, an exceptional human being that I had heard about otherwise, originated the idea one year after I was born; that’s quite a few misses on my end, lot to catch-up on! Anecdotally, especially for my running buddies, as part of his meditation teaching, Chinmoy promoted athleticism and running in particular; and a very long distance form of it as he spun the creation of a series of multi-day events from the classic 6 and 10-day race formats up to the 3,100-mile long Self-Transcendence which you have 52 days to complete. Oh, and you don’t even cross the Continental US, this is on a 0.55-mile loop in Jamaica, Queens, New York! (The 2022 race has actually started on September 4 and can be followed live.)

But why be grateful? After 35 years in super engaging IT positions since the ILOG inception in 1987, almost 25 years living in California, working in the iconic Silicon Valley and running competitively, 65 countries visited and active contributions to more than 1,100 client projects, it’s not a bad time to reflect and be grateful to the thousands of people whom I met on this journey. But, also, it’s a well-known and recommended mindfulness practice which my wife is so good at, on a daily basis, and one I need to improve on. As a way to cope with too many frustrations otherwise: indeed, with my experience and skills, I tend to suffer from being so demanding and frustrated, being in particular too good at spotting inefficiencies and issues out there, be it at work, or in our society and our world in general. Like UN Secretary-General stated yesterday: “We are gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction, […] our world is in peril, and paralyzed.” Oh my, what a depressing message for younger generations, hopefully we all take it as a wake-up call and let them take the reins. Meanwhile, gratitude is therefore a way to survive by still spotting the lights in our lives and letting them know. Lots of catch-up to do on my end, long overdue!

To whom? While I’m obviously most grateful and indebted to my immediate family who supported me for almost 5 decades already, with so much love and empathy, it might be cheesy to get too personal on LinkedIn. With that caveat or premise, I’ll focus on:

• Mostly work-related connections since that’s LinkedIn’s default setting;
• But also some running-related ones since I’m calling this hobby my second job and passion;
• And an other category to catch a fair amount of other interests and contacts I have outside of these two main pillars of my ultra busy life.

In an iterative way as we promote in IT as it surely won’t be practical or even meaningful to do 100 at once. And not necessarily chronologically although it looks more exciting to unearth older souvenirs and anecdotes. Also, referencing older client experiences will be easier as most of our clients don’t allow us to reference active or recent extra valuable work we do for them.

Why only 3 digits? First, for anyone still relating to the Y2K acronym, it’s better than counting years on 2 digits during the 20th century, right? After blogging almost weekly about my journey into ultra-marathon running for 15 years, I’m only at 700 posts so I can appreciate that such series take time. And commitment. Although I’m planning on a faster pace for that particular stories, with a few names a week. With that, if ever or when I get to 1,000, I can always add a digit! For now, setting the bar already quite high, above and beyond 99.

Let’s see where and how far this gratitude experience leads us! Maybe you’ll play as well and post your own picks, highlighting individuals and experiences you are particularly grateful for. Let's express gratitude to the lights in our lives and on our paths. Next post very soon then, # 001!