Happy Thanksgiving

To confess, I spend a lot of time allowing negative thinking to cloud my perception. It's not something I'm proud of. I let little stresses invade my thoughts, and I focus on the bad instead of the overwhelming amount of good in my life.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, because it's so reflective. It is a time to surround yourself with family, and pause to recognize your blessings. I wish I did it more. So, even though it's not the new year, and even though the leaves aren't really changing here in Texas, I'm turning over a new leaf. I will begin to focus on and rally behind the good in my life. I am too blessed to be so stressed.

&, some of my favorite words on thankfulness:

"I like to walk alone on country paths,
rice plants and wild grasses on both sides,
putting each foot down on the earth
in mindfulness, knowing
that I walk on the wondrous earth.
In such moments, existence is a miraculous
and mysterious reality.

People usually consider walking on water
or in thin air a miracle.
But I think the real miracle
is not to walk either on water or in thin air,
but to walk on earth.
Every day we are engaged in a miracle
which we don't even recognize:
a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves,
the black, curious eyes of a child--
our own two eyes.
All is a miracle."
Thich Nhat Hanh, "Miracle of Mindfulness"

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

Rumi "A Great Wagon"