Gratefulness is the experience of the great fullness of our lives. —Lynne Twist

Thank you for snowy Colorado landscapes.

Thank you for falling back in love with bits and pieces of life… 

Warm friends and family

Fellow cyclists climbing canyons

Strangers working it out at the Y 

Plant munchers

EV drivers, street walkers, subway surfers, bus riders

Deniers of convention

Seekers of health

Reconcilers and forgivers

Healers

Healed

Non-humans that bark, wag, chirp, honk…

Shady trees

The French language

Sourdough baguettes with crackly crusts

Beats that move

Snacks

Pillowy mattresses, wrinkly sheets

Conscious breaths

Drizzly mornings….

Thank you for the pain of thinking about animals (human and otherwise) at CAFOs, dairy farms, slaughterhouses—only because it keeps me eating just plants.

Thank you for contemplation of populations threatened by rising sea levels, of animals losing habitats and species facing extinction, of lives defenseless against elements… Those thoughts may motivate action too.

Thank you for when the pain we are able to hold in our hands morphs into a compass.

Thank you for a goose waddling up the sidewalk by the local elementary school.

Thank you for soaking in the foliage on snack breaks from cloudy rides.

Thank you for bodily health bestowing freedom.

Thank you for rainy day mellow moods.

Thank you for speaking up for truth, even if the communication could be more skillful, regardless of consequences. Thank you for faith that trial and error will increase my skillfulness.

Thank you for good memory triggers. Thank you for freshly baked spinach pies. Thank you for home cooks rolling grape leaves and lining them in big pots to cook on stovetops.

Thank you for more Seneca. Hopefully these snippets are of value to you, too:

The addition of friends does not make one wiser, nor does their taking away make one more foolish; therefore, not happier or more wretched, either. As long as your virtue is unharmed, you will not feel the loss of anything that has been withdrawn from you.

Does it sound harsh? I like that it makes me wonder if greater integrity in terms of how I treat another (and how I accept his or her treatment of me) may be a source of peace when he or she is taken away.

Just one more for now:

It is better . . . to get no return than to confer no benefits. Even after a poor crop one should sow again; for often losses due to continued barrenness of an unproductive soil have been made good by one year’s fertility.

What are your impressions? My big takeaway is, continue to trust others. After a let down, we can shield ourselves from future disappointments or simply accept that being let down sometimes is part of the process. Refusal of cynicism opens space for new opportunities and relationships along with transformation of existing ones.

Thank you for the housemates ganging up on me with positive affirmations and hugs.

Thank you for folks like that—supportive beyond what seems deserved—in your past, present, and future. Thank you for when you and I are that person to others.

Sending you love and gratitude <3