-
Self-Soothing: a gratitude ritual
Self-Soothing is Self-Love in Action Create a Self-Soothe Kit I have been making great use of a self-soothe kit I made last year and I would love to share that with you. I was guided to make my kit by Vanya Garabedian, LCSW who uses it with her clients who are in recovery from addiction. …
-
For the Love of Nature
The gratitude that nature brings. Mindfulness in Nature I have been experiencing a lot of nature for the past week. Amazing drives through Colorado and New Mexico that remind me to slow down and notice the natural world. The beauty. The textures. The colors. The shadows. The movement. All that is alive all around me.…
-
When You Stop Searching
A note for me that might just be what you need to hear too. You Are OK The spirit in you is shining bright. You don’t see it though. Your focus is elsewhere. Everywhere. You are searching. Sometimes slow sometimes frantic. For the right way. For more time. For what’s next. For validation, distraction, meaning.…
-
Thank You – You Can Go When You’re Ready
Lessons in Attachment Goodbye, My Sweet Lita My dog, Lita, left this world on Thursday after six weeks (that I knew of) battling cancer. For the last three weeks I was pretty constantly worried about her but I started to worry that she was not letting herself die because of her loyalty to me. So…
-
Escape Into Presence
When I Worry Sometimes I Look for Gratitude and Only Find Worry I write out my gratitude every night before bed. It is a wonderful routine that usually involves reflecting on my day with a positive lens. There are times when my positive lens doesn’t work or I can’t seem to find it and I…
-
Disconnecting for and with Gratitude
Sometimes I am grateful for my phone and computer. Other times … Untethered Gratitude Sometimes I am grateful for my phone and computer and all I can do with the internet at my fingertips: taking in art and music, learning, finding what I need, feeling seen and connected through social media. Other times I feel overwhelmed,…
-
Mindful and Grateful
As long as I talk about gratitude I will never stop talking about noticing. Don’t Miss Out on This Moment I have said it before and will say it again: We can’t be grateful for something we don’t notice. I know that seems obvious. It really does. But still we are scattered. Busy. Worrying. Planning.…
-
There Are No Words
… {Gasp} Sometimes gratitude fills you. Completely. So full that your heart just seems to expand more and more and more. And your skin can't possibly hold it all in. Those moments of gratitude are so big that everything else slips away. And we are fully enveloped in the blessing in front of us. Years ago…
-
Ceremony and Ritual
Why I am all about rituals. Intention and Actions in Sequence I’ve been mentioning rituals for awhile now. Even sharing some of the gratitude and healing rituals I enjoy practicing. But I have never really talked about why I am all about rituals and ceremony. I love the word ritual. There is just something about…
-
Grief and Self Touch
Appreciating your body with touch. Intentional Self Touch During Times of Grief I have been thinking a lot about grief and loss. There are people in our gratitude community who are experiencing profound losses right now. And there are people in my other communities, people in the country and all over the world, who are…
-
With Everything You’ve Got
Don’t wait to sing your swan song. The Most Beautiful Song One day when I was a teenager in my parents' house I heard the most beautiful music. It was so intense and complex and captivating that it drew me out of my self-absorbed and friend-obsessed ways. I immediately tried to locate where this music…
-
Nothing Was Abandoned
Do I still believe that the secret to happiness is low expectations? Expectations vs. Presence I used to believe that the key to happiness was low expectations. Maybe I still do. Our quote this week by Björk really has me pondering the relationship between being present, having expectations and gratitude. She is basically saying that…
-
Aah Relaxation
Kick your heels up. Sink into the gratitude that only relaxation brings. We All Deserve a Rest Give yourself the gift of relaxation. Because you need it. Because the world needs it. Take the time that you can whether that is a long weekend or a lingering cup of tea. Do what you can to…
-
Blooming
What can we do to make the environment right for gratitude? Petals Opening up Towards the Sun The lilies in my pond open up each day, petals open towards the sun, when the sun is high in the sky. Then they close up tight in their buds protected as the cool weather of late afternoon…
-
Giving Weight
I see you. I value you. I hope you’ll stay. Welcoming In Last week was all about releasing. Letting go of that which no longer serves us. This week let's honor all of the things that we wish to welcome into our lives. The objects, the beliefs, the thoughts, the values, the people, our bodies,…
-
Forgotten Gratitude
I appreciated you at the time. But now that your petals have fallen even more so. Gratitude Forgotten and Remembered Those of you who have been here remember that I used to have a segment in these writings where I shared "forgotten gratitude". These were things that I was grateful for at the time and…
-
Could Be Better Could Be Worse
Up and down. Down and up. Could be better. Could be worse. A Blessing from a Stranger at Walmart I very rarely go to Walmart. When I do it's usually very late at night when the other stores are closed. So just before midnight on Sunday night there I was walking the aisles of Walmart.…
-
Open to a New Way of Seeing
We are resilient. We are grateful. Take a Breath. Sink into This. What a year. It hasn't been the greatest. But here we all are. Resilient and often grateful. Through the darkness we trekked. Through the pain we grew. Through the loneliness we found each other. We are here. With a new way of seeing.…
-
Breathing is Enough
Me too. Let’s just take a breath together. Letting Ourselves Off the Hook of Gratitude I’ve been writing a series of these about difficult times and grief. After last week I declared that to be the last of the series and I would move to more positive and feel good topics. But then “me too”…
-
I Thought It Was a Good Luck Spell
Ha! I am not a gratitude witch after all. I Said Thank You Because I Wanted More You’d think I have this gratitude thing figured out by now after six years of this daily practice. But that’s why this is called a practice. There is no point of arriving. It is all becoming. Becoming grateful.…