On friendship: “But the fact is, the same thing is advantageous to me which is advantageous to you; for I am not your friend unless whatever is at issue concerning you is my concern also. Friendship produces between us a partnership in all our interests. There is no such thing as good or bad fortune for the individual; we live in common.” —Seneca 

Thank you for unconditional love from fathers, mothers, siblings, partners, friends… 

Thank you for practice to be more loving with fewer conditions.

Thank you for mundane interactions to improve us at kindness and warm us with gratitude.

Thank you for caring less how others may judge when there’s understanding where those judgments come from.

Thank you for power to help those who have hurt us, by healing from their hurts.

Thank you for recoveries. Anger and bitterness (no one else is the source) seem to be subsiding in me again. Journaling, meditation, support networks are catalysts of peace. 

Thank you for laughter spilling from D’s room every other weekend.

Thank you for an insight about my baby lady. Journaling showed me, she diffused my darkness on the surface, which allowed me not to deal with some of it hiding deep down. I don’t fault her for it. The positivity she elicited was just that. It’s not a lesson about her but one for me, to face issues before they feel pressing, when I’m in a good place. Doing so takes awareness, self-honesty, and courage (with much trial and error). 

Thank you for her visits in dreams.

On aspirations: “It is the quality of a great soul to scorn great things and to prefer that which is ordinary rather than that which is too great. For the one condition is useful and life-giving; but the other does harm just because it is excessive.” —Seneca

Thank you for ordinary lives and loves.

Thank you for good rest after being unwell.

Thank you for productive bounce-backs after setbacks.

Thank you for passions for reading.

Thank you for mountain air feeding long held breaths.

Thank you for hormesis.

Thank you for satisfaction in gazing at the kitchen after the dishes are cleaned and put away.

Thank you always for exploration of dreams logged in journals to further insights.

Thank you for sunny wake ups.

Thank you for nature. Thank you for mindfulness to appreciate it. Thank you for us all, in it and of it.

Thank you for the Pacific Ocean.

Thank you for worlds that dance beneath impassive bounds.

On soul-sufficiency: “No past life has been lived to lend us glory, and that which has existed before us is not ours; the soul alone renders us noble, and it may rise superior to Fortune out of any earlier condition, no matter what that condition has been.” —Seneca

Thank you for diligent efforts to rise.

Thank you for seeds of courage.

Thank you for hope resting on faith in good. As goofy as it may sound, hope may be appropriate without knowing much—without even knowing exactly what it is hoping for. When I am diligent to do and be healthy, I can have optimism that positives are cultivated. Doing the best at my little (or growing or big) part in the world aligns me with a greater good. It doesn’t matter that I can’t fully comprehend how its power works. I believe it’s there because my being points to it. Maybe the cooperation of trifling me with the great other reflects its unity, balance, peace. Rather than pursue or direct specific outcomes, I can trust in doing my bit as well as I can. And when my death is an “outcome,” I still can be hopeful in the furthering of good, if when it arrives I’m genuinely striving to be and do well. (Not sure if that makes sense.)

May you do and be well, with faith in your power for good <3