Thank you for multiple journals that serve varied purposes.

Thank you for The Artist’s Way. The morning pages idea helped me. That book explores what so many of us struggle with: being creatively stifled. All of us can benefit by nourishing the source of our creativity or feeding our inner spark. Nourishing creative inputs (like listening to music) and outputs (like taking photos) both are essential. Maybe even to live well is a creative pursuit.

Thank you for the patience of family, Peaches included, during an adjustment when I’m not the easiest to be around. Let’s hope it’s getting better.

Thank you for awareness that the current living situation prepares me for the next one.

Thank you for the radiant lady with the stubbly head who offered to throw away P’s poop bag for us.

Thank you for the cozy feel from patio lights (even if they’re disruptive in some respects).

Thank you for baseball caps having buttons at the top.

Thank you for the velvet hum of stillness.

Thank you for rain postponing outdoor exercise. The break was nice.

Thank you for a long, slow Sunday ride after a week off.

Thank you for the light of mindfulness. Shining it onto less-than-healthy habits and fears transforms them over time.

Thank you for the practice of awareness without judgment.

Thank you for warm neighbors back home. Thank you for their eye contact. Thank you for their smiles. Thank you for our talks. 

Thank you for friendly memories of Joyce walking Hans early mornings.

Thank you for BT practicing mindful meditation to lower her blood pressure. 

Thank you for RB.

Thank you for when I know that I don’t know what’s going on, rather than assuming I know what is the case based on my own wishful or selfish thinking.

Thank you for efforts to be respectful of others’ situations.

Thank you for acceptance and friendship here for the taking, and space here for the giving.

Thank you for a fast that went ok. I still don’t know what to do (or not to do), so how it helped is uncertain. Just because I can’t see the effects yet doesn’t mean they’re negligible. I’ll keep trying.

Thank you for the Four Immeasurable Minds: love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Thich Nhat Hanh said they’re called immeasurable because “if you practice them, they will grow in you every day until they embrace the whole world. You will become happier, and everyone around you will become happier, also.” 

Thank you for when our lives touch each others’ in positive ways.

Thank you for awareness today that I don’t feel good enough or worthy of love—like I have to be a more exciting or interesting person. That awareness prompted a reminder that I’m the only me out there, which may be special. (Sometimes we are so used to our selves that we take them for granted.)

Thank you for the result of a long search to find home. The deal is pretty much sealed. Now it’s a matter of building and then one more move. It seems a healthy choice.

Thank you for almost a year and a half of heaven and hell in the tiny house. The hell part involved the insecurity of a temporary permit to live on land that ended up being sold, etc. The heaven part was a bunch of stuff. Freedom, calm, quiet, community, clean, simplicity…

Thank you for the new tiny owners and our adventure making the handoff work. Thank you for A’s mission to change the world. I know she’ll do it. Thank you for her calm sensibility carrying us through rough patches. Thank you for J’s skills, too. The two of them complemented each other and made moving the house a success. I hope they create a ton of happy memories there.

Thank you for dreams.

Thank you for difficult choices freely made and the respect those choices earn.

Thank you for conviction that a good thing will work.

Thank you for the grace of forgiveness.

Thank you for the strength of love.

Thank you for all we do to make miracles happen.

Thank you for peaceful nights and healthy tomorrows.