God wants nothing of you but the gift of a peaceful heart. —Meister Eckhart

Thank you for a pink moon soon.

Thank you for efforts to be excited about what I tend to worry over. The new house is one worry to flip right-side-up. It’s a creative project. It’s environmental activism. It’s a mini social experiment. It’s (hopefully) a sanctuary, a future hub of peace, an investment in community and self…

Thank you for light. Thank you for human light receptors (aka peepers). One without the other wouldn’t be the same. So thank you for the combo. 

Thank you for dishwashing thoughts interrupted in surprising ways. Scrubbing while thinking how alive Dad seems to me, a hummingbird flew up to the kitchen window and hovered. 

Thank you for the opposite of paranoia: pronoia.

Thank you for hair undos.

Thank you for times we respect that little voice. It’s so quiet and doesn’t at all insist, so we can easily ignore it. Honoring it, no revolution would be necessary. I mean, if we respect that voice, it will save our world just by pointing toward wellness that softly mends... 

What sort of stuff does it say? In me, it urges a more sustainable lifestyle in all sorts of ways. It also may whisper compliments to hand strangers. Or suggest I tell a loved one they’re in my thoughts. I often find myself embarrassed by its messages, like the receiver will find them sappy and get embarrassed too. Yet in every message is a tip on where to step next (toward a higher path).  

The biggest deal about it is, inner whispers never seem like big deals. They’re easily quieted without resistance—at least temporarily; I can ignore them unchecked. Usually though, when the voice stays unheeded, trouble at some point follows. When heeded, things go better.

Thank you for “little things” like whispers making a loud difference.

Thank you for NM’s safe trip here and back. Thank you for lady time, reading from that one magical book. Thank you for laughing to tears and belly aches.

Thank you for gentle reminders: “We can do hard things.”

Thank you for productive days that don’t land like work because of the company.

Thank you for shared papayas with lime in the cottage kitchen.

 Thank you for Sisters’ grace in adversity and for their strength, wisdom, and kindness to continue to rise.

Thank you for Kaiser promoting whole foods, plant based.

Thank you for the inventions of Mr. Jacuzzi.

Thank you for recurring soul hug dreams.

Thank you for a sunny Sunday ride to Old Topanga after a good bit away—thank you especially for the view of oak trees along the little climb on Mulholland past Malibu Canyon.

Thank you for simultaneous dual Rick sightings at Seminole. (Bookends!)

Thank you for the little boy next door wishing me a nice bike ride.

Thank you for EV info to counter misinfo.

Thank you for a new way to look at something familiar. Conversations inside our heads—questions asked, attitudes expressed, criticisms, encouragement—are influenced by conversations that happen outside our heads (talk out loud that our ears absorb). The inside stuff learns from the outside stuff. It copies or mirrors it, without us trying. The reverse happens, too. I mean, the way we talk inside our heads seeps into communications we have out loud. What and how we practice thinking, the company we keep, shows we watch, lyrics we listen to matter. Thank you for mindful consumption. 

Thank you for making friends with non-humans. (As with human-to-human bonding, snacks help.)

Thank you for donkey butt scratches. 

Thank you for pulling nettle with KB and Linda at Kindred Spirits.

Thank you for a new therapist covered by new insurance.

Thank you for the peaceful atmosphere at Sapientia to help with focus.

Thank you for so many different options (dictionaries full of words, etc.) to communicate our insides.

Thank you for a recurring awareness worth repeating. Say you were suffering and unable to handle it, so your suffering spilled onto others. (It happens.) Maybe I was one of those others. The neat thing is, now that I hold your ouchie, I have power. I can process it. My healing transforms the pain from you. If I become well, if my injury recovers, then part of yours—the part that spilled onto me—shrinks. Making myself better helps you to be better.

Thank you for step-back weeks like these, when a return to baseline is an accomplishment.

Thank you for tenacity to persist in routines for wellness.

Wishing us faith after every setback to rest and heal. Wishing us faith in itty bitty steps—even when we’re blind to where they lead. Wishing us faith in what we don’t know and in the promise of questions. May our faith embolden the vulnerability that connects us—we accomplish great things together!

Thank you for caring. Be well! <3