Patty

I’ve been a slacker when it comes to writing them down, but most mornings since I started this exercise, I spend a few moments in bed before getting up and into my day reflecting on what I am grateful for.

• I am grateful that I am healthy and mobile (by foot, by car, by plane and by heart). I am on-the-go in so many ways and that is good.
• I am grateful for connections, all the strange and wonderful connections that lead people together, that bring people closer and that bring dreams and visions clearer into view.
• I am grateful that while the world often seems cold and people appear more and more disconnected from each other and themselves, there are these bright and clear glimmers of warmth and true soul-to-soul connections.
• I am grateful for instant and text messenging, it’s those little connections and words of love and friendship that can brighten a day, reassure a worry or provide a helping hand across time and distance.
• I am grateful for my friendships (this one seems to be there almost every day) tattered and old and shining or new, distant and close.
• I am grateful that people appreciate me and are generous enough to share their appreciation, admiration and love with me.
• I am grateful that I had a solid foundation of love and nurturing the first three years of my life. That base gave me the ability to be strong when things were scary and less solid and gave me the courage to stand up and protest when I was told I deserved anything less.
• I am grateful for the pain I have known; it’s been a teacher and a window into true empathy and compassion for others.
• I am grateful just for being here and for being a person who questions, who tries to understand all the many answers that are out there waiting for the right questions.

1. my chiropractor. she is a true healer and takes care of more than my spine
2. the wisdom that comes from age. tomorrow I will be 45 years old and I am both amazed and impressed at the power that those years have given me.
3. Pearson’s salted nutrolls. They are so good and I don’t think they’re all that bad for you. Good thing I can’t find them in California and even better that the ones I picked up back in Minneapolis are almost gone!
4. soft, clean cotton sheets
5. for living so close to the ocean. Yesterday in Carmel the ocean was so beautiful it made me want to cry
6. my passion and energy. I like that I am intense and am grateful for possessing a very powerful life force, mind and heart.
7. color. It sounds rather odd, but today I grateful for all the rich and beautiful color in the world. rusty oranges, blood reds, creamy chocolate browns, tranquil blue-green…
8. my silly brilliant daughter who draws mustaches on her face and murals on her jeans.

“Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone.”
—Gladys Berthe Stern

Making up for yesterday and adding my gratitude today:

1. The fresh start of each new day. Didn’t accomplish as much as you wanted to yesterday? Didn’t feel good about something last night? Today begins anew and there is unlimited promise and new opportunity to change, to return, to stay, to leave, to start again – fresh.
2. Laughter. Isn’t laughter a wonderful thing? It’s a healing medicine, it’s joy manifested, it spreads smiles and makes pure connections from person to person. I love laughter and am grateful that it so often finds it’s way into my life.
3. The wisdom of the universe that extends beyond my knowing. I am constantly surprised and delighted about how things just seem to fall into place, to fall into my lap, to present themselves in my life at just the time I need them.
4. Tam Kieves, who wrote the book, “This Time I Dance”. She inspires me weeks after putting this book down. I want to meet her one day.
5. Cashmere. My sweater is soft, warm and beautiful; it feels like a soft and tender touch to my skin. mmmmmm…..cashmere.

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
—Marcel Proust