xo

I love winter. I can afford to because I am so very blessed to have shelter, food, heat. Luxuries that I try to stay aware of, that I try to remain in a constant state of gratitude for. I like it when Lew goes for a romp outside without me returning indoors with cold still lingering on his fur and a scent of woodliness abounding. I reach to hug him and am again reminded of the magnitude of the gifts that arrive undeserved but freely, Lew being one of the cuddliest.
 
This past week 2 friends independently have commented on the fullness of my gratitude jar, remarking that it was filling up nicely. I smiled and nodded both times but in truth I could easily be filling it twice a day given the blessings that are mine, the prayers answered. My beginning a gratitude jar has morphed from writing on slips of Origami paper into a mental practice of consciously giving thanks for the beauty and grace encountered continuously. And also for the challenges. I have worked to meet my shortcomings as interlinking circles for growth rather than stumbling stones for self-condemnation.
 
I’m as grateful for the chilled air clinging to Lew’s fur as I am for food on my table. For vision to see all sunset Blips, fresh water for tea, electricity to heat it, a house to harbor my stove and for friends to share it with. Each blessing I notice contains within it countless blessings that support the one my heart felt then. The gifts I receive each moment is too much for me to notice individually and give thanks for so I try to stay in an ongoing open dialog of gratitude and it has greatly increased the joy I feel each day. Thankfully it’s not required of me to worry these joys into some hierarchy of importance. Each is a gift my heart receives. Each teaches me humility, which I so need to learn. It is up to me to learn to accept and give thanks. Continuously. So that all I have does not stop with me but flows through me onward, ever onward.
I send you all much gratitude, you are in my jar many times over and in my heart daily as well. I thank you so very much for your sharing your travel through your life with me, trusting that your happiness and fears, sadness and hopes will find a safe harbor here. My wishes for each of you and your loved ones is too great for me to express with words but my heart is full to overflowing and I send those prayers out into the universe with your names on them.
God bless you all and Happy, Happy New Years ahead!

(background photos are: in the shadows, my mom as a toddler with her dog; above that a pic of Rose and Courtney, me at 21 truly stuck inside Hampton Court maze and my mother on the far right shortly before she passed. There, a selfie!)
xo