Happiness blooms naturally in the hearts of those who are inwardly free. It flows spontaneously, like a mountain spring after April showers, in minds that are contented with simple living. — Paramahansa Yogananda

Thank you for striving toward inner freedom, toward contentedness with simplicity.

Thank you for a song about a dim light reminding that my attitude can unveil light for happiness to bloom.

Thank you for mulchinistas.

Thank you for donkey ear scratches.

Thank you for BO’s positive messages and passion for good.

Thank you for hillside poppies sprouting in perfectly balanced arrangements.

Thank you for garden sheroes visiting the Seminole lot to plan a safe native sanctuary with a newbie. Thank you for shade potential of back yard oaks. Thank you for sunshine from neighbors. Thank you for their acceptance. Thank you for how they feel like home. 

Thank you for down to earth. Thank you for real. Thank you for worthiness of trust. Thank you for belonging. 

Thank you for efforts to appreciate a winding path. (A latest perspective is that the universe has been sending me on open-ended field studies. How about you?)

Thank you for occasional strength workouts. Thank you for rests.

Thank you for silence enjoyed.

Thank you for when I accept all emotions, positive and negative, yet am not satisfied to remain less than happy or well. 

I mean, when okay with staying un-okay, often I’ve blamed the upset more on circumstances than on anything in my control. Then I may put in less (inside) effort to become better. (Or I may use quick fixes to feel better without actually being better.)

In addition to spurring efforts at inner happiness, refusal to be satisfied with ongoing unhappiness can motivate engagement with the world. Assuming the world beyond me is related to my inner issues, then it and I are linked. I may have influence through that connection. (Not sure if it means much.)

Thank you for Mom chats and Cosy updates, especially when the latter involve unusually small hamsters rolling al fresco in clear plastic balls.

Thank you for well wishes for half centuries.

Thank you for NM’s values-based questions. Thank you for her courage to be sappy adding beauty to the mundane.

Thank you for loved ones bold to share when they feel hurt and have doubts, and for their compassion to do so gently. Thank you for role models of healthy communication.

Thank you for doses of lightness injected into heaviness, and vice versa.

Thank you for tiny blurred watercolor renditions of life-sized scenes.

Thank you for real safety not involving avoidance of what’s out of our hands. Maybe an ideal is to seek safety that envelops in loving acceptance, that nurtures inner freedom, regardless of circumstances beyond our control.

Thank you for respectful, kind housemates.

Thank you for their sons’ visits. Thank you for the joy they bring the cottage. 

Thank you for kindness of the guys at Ventura County Building and Safety to assist with our solar snafu.

Thank you for delicious whole foods as evidence of nature’s harmony. Thank you for counterexamples to the myth that attractive options must have icky consequences. I’d guess, closer to nature, our senses’ enjoyment aligns with wellness.

Thank you for blueberry handfuls becoming mouthfuls. Thank you for the pleasure they burst through one’s being.

Thank you for the marvel of our bodies and minds healing us while we sleep.

Thank you for lessons, like this one, shared from near death experiences… 

For those who grieve or fear, I assure you of this: There is no death, nor does love ever end. And remember also that we are aspects of the one perfect whole, and as such are part of God, and of each other. Someday you who are reading this and I will be together in light, love, and unending bliss. —Beverly Brodsky (quoted in Lessons from the Light)

Thank you for knowing we’re not alone. 

Thank you for, despite constant slip ups, returning to belief in love. Thank you for times and ways love guides us.

Whatever our situation, may we embrace the adventure with love <3