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

I see skies of blue and clouds of white, the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night,

and I think to myself, what a wonderful world. — Thiele and Weiss

Thank you for positive influences.

Thank you for the dogs of Oak Park.

Thank you for fragrant air on neighborhood walks this time of year.

Thank you for mottled sycamore trunks.

Thank you for (un-westernized) ikigai.

Thank you for thoughts about where the stuff I buy ends up, especially the tech gadgets.

Thank you for Luddites.

Thank you for loved ones (like you). Thank you for feeling seen and valued. Thank you for trusting connections. Thank you for senses of belonging. 

Thank you again for, there’s always time to change. It’s worth repeating that well into my 40’s, social connections have grown more fulfilling than ever, not from effort to connect per se but thanks to tragedies and amazing luck coinciding with personal wellness practices.

Thank you for a reminder to self: when you assume there’s little room to grow, like you’ve “succeeded” at anything, that means there’s plenty of growing to go.

Thank you for sister wisdom.

Thank you for shuffled songs matching life in silly ways. Like the other night on a walk, reminiscing about Dad’s offer to buy me a Cadillac after I started grad school in LA… I didn’t accept—it felt important to show that my love wasn’t contingent on material provisions. Plus, I was thirty, and it was a Cadillac. I’d sworn off car ownership back then, too.

Anyhow, seconds after those memories bubbled up, a random song launched in my earbuds: “I wanna be free. I wanna just live, inside my Cadillac, that is my shit. Now throw it up. That’s what it is. In my C-A-D-I-L-L-A-C bitch…” 

(Thank you for not judging my songs and shares.) Are you tickled by coincidences too?

Thank you for the universe’s sense of humor. 

Thank you for G’s surgery a success. 

Thank you for “cheers m’dears.”

Thank you for the pooch at the park setting a frisbee down at its person’s feet and looking up for another throw. 

Thank you for a dad playing peek-a-boo with his toddler on the sidewalk.

Thank you for everyday playfulness. 

Thank you for baby leaves on houseplants.

Thank you for California poppies in bloom.

Thank you for the purity of childhood shining in adults. 

Thank you for the needlessness, in some sense, to try and be good. Our true selves are good. Thank you for trust in your goodness and mine. 

Thank you for I Believe (Ziggy Alberts) added to the playlist for morning-in-bed listens (outlook training), along with What A Wonderful World and Three Little Birds.

Thank you again for how much more valuable and valued I feel since moving on from a desk job in academia, for the freedom to trade in a sort of hoity-toity title for an uncharted adventure.

Thank you for connections that give it all meaning.

Thank you for soft train-ride tees. 

Thank you for animal sightings through windows (horses, ponies, cows, geese, egrets…)

Thank you for not long after boarding the Amtrak, a rainbow. At Merced, a red star-shaped balloon floating to the clouds. On the bus to Fort Bragg, another rainbow.

Thank you for forests dense with redwoods.

Thank you for hugging tree hugging friends and for hugging tree friends.

Thank you for well-stocked food banks.

Thank you for N and M’s gracious acceptance. 

Thank you for N’s podcast. Thank you for the amazing coincidence to meet a gratitude devotee. Thank you for her presence bubbling with inspiration. Thank you for her faith in humanity. 

Thank you for N and M’s bean jars. Thank you for their gratitude exchanges. Thank you for our “Team Time” cleaning the kitchen. Thank you for their date jar.

Thank you for future visions as the sun set.

Thank you for casting what doesn’t serve us into the river.

Thank you for a cute sea lion couple barking outside my bedroom door.

Thank you for kaleidoscope connections.

Thank you for Perfect Days.

Thank you for another Seneca nugget:

Nothing is more successful in bringing honorable influences to bear upon the mind, or in straightening out the wavering spirit that is prone to evil, than association with good men. For the frequent seeing, the frequent hearing of them little by little sinks into the heart and acquires the force of precepts.

Thank you for your honorable influences little by little sinking into my heart and straightening my wavering spirit.

Thank you eternally for when we don’t feel worthy of gratitude or love, and grace gives it to us anyway. 

Be well! <3

“Dare to be mediocre.” — Pam Grout

Thank you for unabashed imperfection.

Thank you for radical authenticity—for bravery to be ourselves.

Thank you for simpletons, dummies, weirdos, and bores.

Thank you for when unconventional feels normal. Thank you for the swaths of humanity that not-normal resonates with.

Thank you for disrupted living situations. Alien settings nudge us from thinking loops (like discussed in E-cubed), so we’re forced to envision tomorrow as unlike yesterday.

Thank you for a Cuisinart from Goodwill. Thank you for funky coincidental thrift finds.

Thank you for a tarot reading from G’s little guy. (Past: eight of swords. Present: two of swords. Future: death. Advice/path/action?: emperor) 

Thank you for Dad, the “white-haired guru” (the emperor? IDK).

Thank you for SHM’s determination to gain strength. Thank you for his passion to be a positive force.

Thank you for Seneca’s letter on the lesson to be drawn from the burning of Lyons: “Perhaps its destruction has been brought about only that it may be raised up again to a better destiny. Oftentimes a reverse has but made room for more prosperous fortune.”

Thank you always for healing from another’s injuries as a gift of forgiveness.

Thank you for Mindy (Mandy?) offering her pooches, Bolt and Sadie, for me to love on at the coffee shop on the lake St. Patrick’s Day.

Thank you for the opportunity to visit the beautiful NM (and her plus one) up north soon. 

Thank you for sisters and their plus ones’ inspirational real life love stories.

Thank you for a new morning practice of listening to a happy song or two—e.g., What A Wonderful World, Three Little Birds…—before getting out of bed. (That idea is also from E-cubed.)

Thank you for a new catch phrase or mantra to focus on. For several weeks, it was “coherence.” I’d imagine being in a state of coherence while meditating or just breathing. After that, the focus moved for a couple weeks to “rest, hydrate, fuel,” which heavier workouts had been requesting. Now it’s “pause; express”—I’m hoping this new one will add awareness and calm to communicate authentically what’s difficult.

Thank you for Manzanita Mama taking me under her wing, teaching about natives, introducing me to her garden gang, exploring grant options. Thank you for inspiration to share with others as she has with me.

Thank you for sumac buds, toyon berries (Hollywood!), ceanothus flowers.…

Thank you for oak trees catching embers.

Thank you for L’s Lobo paradise.

Thank you for Louie the Komondor (a leaner).

Thank you for the colorful history of our community. Thank you for its protectors.

Thank you for a few small creativity practices from Pam Grout’s Ted Talk (e.g. dream up three adventures you’d like to take, formulate three subjects you’d like to photograph…).

Thank you for a deeper acceptance that the paths we choose may be the ones we have the capacity to travel. And even when joined paths separate, the journey still brims with love and beauty and wonder.

Thank you for your superpower of making others feel seen. Thank you for your strength as a caregiver. Thank you for the warmth you radiate. I hope you feel worthy of love in all caps. I hope you give yourself grace.

Thank you for healing.

Thank you for a well-meaning thought coming from a position of privilege that assumes beyond basic needs are met—healthcare is attainable, food is on the table, and home is safe, peaceful, clean, conducive to health…

It’s the notion that true contentment may be less like the rare or pricy splurge and more like the tchotchke on a clearance rack. Only happiness isn’t bought. We have access to it free, in some sense, as much as we tap into nature in and around us, cultivate connections with life, forge autonomy and purpose...

(That thought came from a memory of grad school days walking through the neighborhood around Westwood—Bel Air—and wondering how happy were the people who lived in all those fancy mansions. It sort of puffed me up to know I could be content with a small fraction of what they had, like I was in on some big overlooked truth.)

Thank you for questioning with playful curiosity.

Wishing us the courage to explore worlds within and beyond, with love. Be well!  <3

Thank you for the past behind, the future ahead, and us in between.

Thank you for a chance to love on Oliver the donkey at Kindred Spirits, after he dropped the flannel button-down he’d been taunting its owner with.

Thank you for Pedro (alpaca) toofs.

Thank you for nasturtiums and beet greens in the garden with KB, and for the ladies who introduced us to their floral munchies.

Thank you for BO taking several of us to visit Gordy and Peanut.

Thank you again for outliers like Karen and Nate who dedicate their existence to noble causes.

Thank you for (quasi) logical thoughts that resolve emotional turmoils. For instance, think of people (like you or me) disliking others (like me or you). How could anyone dislike you if they don’t know you? Then they only dislike an image of you. And how could anyone who truly knows you, dislike you? Once they understand, even if you’re deeply troubled, they’ll see your struggles while recognizing your value. They’ll see, the same challenges that render us “prickly” at times also render us worthy of compassion (albeit in some cases from a safe distance). So, positive regard is the only true option.

Thank you for linguine with garlicky tomato sauce.

Thank you for gratitude bombs. That’s when we pause a moment to think of as many things as possible that we’re grateful for. It can be little stuff in the immediate surroundings, like the long tapered hands of a clock, the color of someone’s yoga pants, the posture of a passerby, the caress of a breeze, the feel of toes inside shoes, the sound of birds chirping, the air expanding lungs…

Thank you for RA showing me around the canyons. Thank you for a breathtaking ride up Piuma and down Stunt.

Thank you for D teaching me how to use the machines and free weights at the Y, and for C giving me the rundown on her tabata workouts.

Thank you for picking oranges in C’s backyard, and for her hubs suggestion to give them to neighbors at the park.

Thank you for G manifesting a road bike and buying a helmet.

Thank you for a borrowed book on manifesting (even though I’m less into certain types of petitions). To be open and positive, it makes sense, will attract more of the same. Thank you for abundance mindsets.

Thank you for popcorn and movie nights with D and G. Thank you for their humor. Thank you for the chance to share a space with humans I may never have known under other circumstances. Thank you for their sons. Thank you for our extraordinary landlady and friend. 

Thank you for the kindness of our little community. Hopefully we’ll stay bonded even when circumstances change.

Thank you for safe feelings in social settings.

Thank you for health and wellness coaching that bestows more intention on life.

Thank you for chats with Sisters and “sisters.” Thank you for the inspiration, empowerment, warmth, and uplift of women respecting each other and themselves.

Thank you for big sisters’ big sisters understanding their sibs with compassion.

Thank you for our love being perpetually imperfect. I mean, that may be a good thing if you like to grow, because there will always be chances for it.

Thank you for learning as a cure for boredom.

Thank you for soft cozy throw blankets.

Thank you for life teaching me it’s okay to be more open. The right support networks probably make a difference. Who in my circles is likely to hurt me for expressing myself? How compassionately I communicate matters, too. If I feel hurt, I can take responsibility for my feelings. I can address the issue with care and respect—for all involved, myself included. Doing so will hone communication skills, establish boundaries, reinforce gratitude... It’s also useful to trust: progress flows from persistent, honest (kind) effort.

Thank you a million times over for our diligent attempts at wellness in tiny ways everyday.  

Thank you for optimism gained from experience. Witnessing transformations, others’ and one’s own, grows hope. 

Thank you for enjoyment of lying in bed listening to silence, breathing.

Thank you for nights in coach on Amtrak last month to enhance appreciation of the cushioned, horizontal snooze.

Thank you for strangers’ kindness to strangers for no apparent reason. (Do you notice it more lately, too?)

Thank you for memories of peaceful nights in the tiny house on the hill. Thank you for intimacy with nature.

Thank you for Audrey the fluffy goldendoodle letting me pet her. Thank you for when her sweet mama drove us on an outing, and Audrey climbed onto the center console from the back seat. Her cute little nose sniffed my face. 

Thank you for the light of dogs in our lives. 

Thank you for awareness that my perspective is a bit narrow lately. It hasn’t always been this way, and this won’t continue forever. (Maybe staying a little bit nearsighted is beneficial, sometimes.)

Thank you for one day at a time.

Thank you for nature’s healing power.

Thank you for your faith in that universal power outside and within you. Sending you love!

Thank you for the crackle of a vacuum grabbing debris.

Thank you for the high spirits of birds flitting at the feeder on the end of the block.

Thank you for the iphone randomly deciding to play a morning song (I just called to say I love you).

Thank you for more happy-making relationship advice.

Thank you for runs and rides, etc., to focus on. Thank you for meditations that relax from their jitters. Thank you for the sleep, drink, and food they request. Thank you for calm alertness when they go well.

Thank you for friends to play with.

Thank you again for freedom from a caffeine habit lending balance.

Thank you for coherence.

Thank you for civil shout outs from anonymous drivers. 

Thank you for expectations of ups and downs. Unevenness, accepted, evens out—so a good cry here and there doesn’t spiral down. Dips pass. Insights may replace them. Equanimity has a better chance.

Thank you for sensitivity as a superpower. Thank you for mindfulness to cultivate calm amid sensitivity (sometimes).

Thank you for the compassion of the coaching program facilitator.

Thank you for a first 12-step meeting that took me out of my comfort zone. Thank you for the feat of attendees’ steps to change their/our lives. Thank you for individuals uniting in courageous efforts. 

Thank you for NM sharing with me her journey and the support groups she’s trying.

Thank you always for growth, healing, and inspiration. 

Thank you for hard work to look at ourselves when we’re scared of what we’ll see.

Thank you for those who encourage us along the way.

Thank you for porch swings, rocking chairs, tree swings, hammocks...

Thank you for cozy nights safe from storms.

Thank you for Murphy falling asleep on my lap as AV and I went over house design stuff. Thank you for our progress.

Thank you for Seminole neighbors’ pooches.

Thank you for fluffy white fur-muffin puppies.

Thank you for the honor (and joy) to be included in a NorCal house dream.

Thank you for offers accepted. Thank you for open doors.

Thank you for GC’s gift of a book with tools to hone a positive mindset. Thank you for NM’s, too.

Thank you for DS, GC, BO and others not fitting woo-woo stereotypes despite openness toward spirituality and unconventional paths to wellness. 

Thank you for Dean and Anne Ornish improving lives with lifestyle medicine.

Thank you for respectful relationships.

Thank you for heartfelt mom chats. 

Thank you for, I don’t have to do the dishes. I get to do the dishes, etc. The latest version is, I don’t have to pay the bills. I get to pay the bills. Those bills reflect the blessing of a place to live, a co-op to belong to, a phone that connects to loved ones and teaches French and plays music, access to medical care, storage for belongings, groceries and clothes and toiletries—all the stuff that meets basic needs (and beyond).

Thank you for diligent little efforts to recognize life’s infinite blessings. 

Thank you for awareness that you are one of those blessings.

Wishing you well <3

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

Thank you for safety from the elements.

Thank you for challenges bringing us closer.

Thank you to BO for giving Tallulah a protected space at Kindred Spirits.

Thank you for time with DA on his quick Cali visit. Thank you for how funny and thought-provoking he is. Thank you for borrow-able comments like, “I don’t have advice, only opinions.” Thank you for the joy his spouse and daughter have brought his life.

Thank you for Joy, a birdie at Namaste, letting my finger love on her head.

Thank you for flowers bearing witness to nature’s majesty.

Thank you for days packed with meaning. It’s like G says about work—things somehow always come up.

Thank you for love being a do word. That’s not a new thought. What’s kind of new for me is generalizing the do-word notion to forgiveness, optimism, healing, etc.

Thank you for Laura Lynne Jackson’s loving craft. Thank you for the chance to see her in action.

Thank you for a wellness coach to work with. (Goals are to elevate energy and transform self talk…)

Thank you for a healer to learn from.

Thank you for big sisters as role models.

Thank you for G’s invite, to (my first) kundalini yoga class.

Thank you for Inner French pointing to Stromae, leading to Bigflo and Oli’s Sur La Lune…

Thank you for repetition. Thank you, thank you (jk). Repetition reinforces what I’d like to keep in mind.

Thank you for the coaching program and facilitators’ tools to accept others where they are and how they choose to be, to grow.

Thank you for what and how questions turned back on our selves. In turmoil, they offer insight. 

Thank you for life lessons from undergrad studies in psych. Thank you for awareness that inoculates against less positive influences while it promotes healthy ways.

Thank you for literature on liking.

Thank you for vulnerability to express sadness (hurt, shame…). I would like to be more vulnerable. Thank you for awareness that certain emotions (like anger) put up a front when vulnerability isn’t ready to express the more delicate stuff. Thank you for airing truths naked beneath silence and anger. And when the response to our vulnerability is unkind, the experience fortifies us all the same. It mends us if we let it. 

Thank you for an insight about stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. I’m still trying to notice my self narratives throughout the day. I’m still working to replace less positive stories with kinder ones.

Thank you for another solo NY trip going well so far.

Thank you for thoughts while peeing in public bathrooms (to appreciate their positives—the tiles, the sounds, etc.)

Thank you for birdsongs from performers tucked in jacaranda foliage at the Union Station courtyard. Thank you for a chlorine scent bubbling from the fountain. Thank you for multi-story windows pouring light on travelers bustling about. Seen through the oversized panes, they glowed. I wondered if they weren’t humans but souls in baseball caps, hoodies, jackets, and jeans. It could have been not a downtown train station at all. It could have been a depot in the afterlife, where everything “bad” is an illusion. Everything good is real—love, peace, unity, balance… (a goofball thought)

Thank you for life full of wonder.

Thank you for Seneca’s advice to Lucilius: We are weak, watery things standing in the midst of unrealities; therefore let us turn our minds to the things that are everlasting. Let us look up to the ideal outlines of all things, that flit about on high…

Thank you for the Amish lady who’s friendly chatting lifted my spirits. Thank you for groups like the Amish, the Order of Interbeing, the devotees of Turiyasangitananda, where participants cooperate in values (some, anyhow) nobler than convention.

Thank you for a switch to a different seat on the Lake Shore Limited. I couldn’t change the (upsetting) environment, so I moved to a healthier one. Do I live that way when it comes to big stuff? Will I give up a harmful seat in life to seek wellness, even if a better option isn’t foreseen or guaranteed?

Thank you for a flock of pigeons rounding the narrow airspace down 8th avenue east onto 57th street.

Thank you for more of Seneca’s wisdom. I hope it inspires you, too! <3

Bring it to pass that I shall cease trying to escape from death, and that life may cease to escape from me. Give me courage to meet hardships; make me calm in the face of the unavoidable. Relax the straitened limits of the time which is allotted me. Show me that the good in life does not depend on life’s length, but upon the use we make of it…

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

Thank you for nuggets of wisdom in Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic:

“As to what the future’s uncertain lot has in store, why should I demand of Fortune that she give, rather than demand of myself that I should not crave?”

“Be a philosopher now, whether you have anything or not, — for if you have anything, how do you know that you have not too much already? — but if you have nothing, seek understanding first, before anything else.”

“Do you ask what is the foundation of a sound mind? It is, not to find joy in useless things. I said that it was the foundation; it is really the pinnacle. We have reached the heights if we know what it is that we find joy in and if we have not placed our happiness in the control of externals.”

“The yield of poor mines is on the surface; those are really rich whose veins lurk deep, and they will make more bountiful returns to him who delves unceasingly.”

“I do not know whether I shall make progress; but I should prefer to lack success rather than to lack faith.”

Thank you for the ripple effects of NM’s hugs. Thank you for her loving energy.

Thank you for safe home environments.

Thank you for supportive housemates.

Thank you for those open and humble and curious and eager to try therapy—to be up for whatever promises healing.

Thank you for New Jerseyans. Thank you for Brits.

Thank you for homemade soups on chilly nights.

Thank you for a cozy gathering with Cottage peeps. Thank you for acceptance and laughter. Thank you for vulnerability around folks I didn’t know existed a year ago who now are almost like family in some ways. Thank you for safe pockets.

Thank you for an ongoing quest, like a game, to simplify life naturally. (What can I do without? What can I swap out for second-hand or make from scratch? What’s a less processed version of the status quo…?)

Thank you for loving big sisters. Thank you for their partners, and their care for each other.

Thank you for unexpected compliments. I think you’re wonderful!

Thank you for great historical figures who lived with abundant conflict, like MLK Jr. (Gandhi, too…) You might say they were magnets for discord, if you missed the forest to home in on trees. I guess what I’m getting at is, if we engage with the world, if we refuse to submit passively to its (many) questionable aspects, then maybe we will have a measure of strife. How we approach the hardship is another story. (I’m trying to be better at the approach.)

Thank you for understanding and support to bear inevitable rejection. Thank you for love outshining what’s not easy to bear.

Thank you for greater ease as a result of challenges addressed in the coaching program. Thank you for the responsibility we take for our own emotions, like a vessel that navigates us to smoother waters.

Thank you for friends and family feeding hope in futures diverging from dreams. 

Thank you for numbers’ spiritual significance.

Thank you for the teacher whose example got me thinking, the greatest teachers in any subject may be teaching about life. 

Thank you for Stella (French bulldog) veering from her walk to jump up and kiss on me.

Thank you for kisses from Riley (Great Pyrenees) and tummy rubs for Echo (rescue mutt). Thank you for Echo licking clean Riley’s mammoth face. Thank you for their mom’s love.

Thank you for canned beans in a pinch.

Thank you for an S and C run-in at Namaste Spiceland. Thank you for longtime couples who appear to treat each other lovingly. Thank you for saucy, spicy combo plates with rice and chapati. 

Thank you for house offers accepted. Even with trials, thank you for doors opening and steps into new beginnings. Thank you for healthy futures.

Thank you again for Anne turning her design of my little mobile home into a reality soon. Thank you for the vision of cozying up in a private nest surrounded by a garden embraced by community. 

Thank you for our visions of tomorrow propelling us forward. The present has beauty, too. How can I grumble recognizing even some of these conditions for happiness? (Try to keep them in sight.)

Thank you for brief moments when gratitude shines into darkness.

Thank you for Woolsey gifts: belonging in a community, a home within grasp. New friends, bonded in healing, are from Woolsey. So is knowing what home means to me.

Thank you for safe streets to walk after dark. 

Thank you for a ride to PCH. Thank you for the ocean’s humbling presence. 

Thank you for friends, new (hopefully) and old, at Kindred Spirits. Thank you for affectionate goats. Thank you for curious emus. 

Thank you for our bodies. Thank you for digestion, the poops and pees. Thank you for deep, clear breaths. Thank you for the feet and knees to absorb impacts and the muscles that power. Thank you for toes that wiggle. Thank you for spines erect and necks to prop up fleshy bowling balls. Thank you for eyes drinking in skies, moons, smiles. Thank you for blood that nourishes every nook and cranny. Thank you for skin without itches and hairs that grow long. Thank you for naughty bits tucked away in modesty and marveled at under wraps. Thank you for honkers to filter breaths and cherish essences, tongues to taste and talk, teeth to chew. Thank you for orbicularis oculi to flex. Thank you for fingers to write, to feel, to grip, to release. Thank you for arms that hold and voices that hum. Thank you for ears alerting us to all sorts of vibrations. Thank you for unsung organs and enzymes, for fluids behind the scenes. Thank you for brains to conduct the symphony of it all. Thank you for souls like bridges to a universe we don’t see.

I hope the miracle of your body enjoys the love and rest it deserves. May its gifts bless you with freedom for years to come <3

“Anger is a bell of mindfulness.” —Brother Phap Huu

“It’s okay not to have an answer to the question you’re asking yourself. But as long as you’re alive, you keep asking questions.” (That’s from The Departure.)

Thank you for acceptance that injustice exists. Thank you for trust in slow-mo, wordless unfurlings of justice. Thank you for compassion restoring balance.

Thank you for our bit parts on the stage of the universe.

Thank you for the smell of winter in the Sandia foothills.

Thank you for Take Five warming a windless sunset stroll past adobes decked with ristras, windows framed in twinkling lights, and luminarias lining paths.

Thank you for another post from the Gottman blog.

Thank you for maya dissipating. First came a regrettable episode. Then my self-narrative see-sawed from a victim account to one of aggressor. Was I manipulated? Did I manipulate? Incompatible alternatives carried me up and down as if the possible origins of my suffering were split and couldn’t coexist—like the tilt of a rigid plank on a playground. How could one end rise unless the other fell?

No, suffering’s causes are myriad. “Contradictions” do coexist. It’s in not looking deeply enough that I oversimplify; to reach reality takes digging beneath illusion. When I find it, contradictions reconcile in understanding fertile with peace. 

Thank you for the growth equation: stress + rest = growth. (Brad Stulberg?)

Thank you for eating differently.

Thank you for energy that bubbles and bounces from inside.

Thank you for the heavy hitters falling to the bottom of the salad bowl for a strong finish.

Thank you for when Brussels sprouts are cabbage heads and I’m a giant.

Thank you for healthy bodies.

Thank you for holiday miracles.

Thank you for realization when another tries to plant in my self-image the projection of her own sense of inadequacy. There is only adequacy in us. We are sacred and beautiful.

Thank you for strangers and loved ones who show us what it’s like to be treated with dignity.

Thank you for strangers and loved ones who show us what it’s like to be given grace.

Thank you for optimism spurring fresh efforts at the start of a new year.

To do the big things that scare you, start with smaller things—start with developing the ability to push yourself to do stuff you’re reluctant to do. To be able to endure the cold reception of a bold idea, start with enduring a cold shower. To be able to step forward when the stakes are high, regularly do that when the stakes are low. To be able to embrace the discomfort of a major life change, accustom yourself to minor discomforts. We treat the body rigorously, Seneca said, so that it may not be disobedient to the mind. We push ourselves in little ways so the big ways stop seeming quite so big, quite so out of character. We minimize fear by making the act of overcoming it routine. We test ourselves to prepare for the tests of life. By methodically and deliberately exposing ourselves to small challenges, what once seemed daunting becomes manageable, even routine. —Ryan Holiday

Take good care and be well <3

I came up with something that I repeat as often as I have a voice: It's impossible to travel the road to peace unless you first cross the bridge of forgiveness.

And, you know, the only hope of peace and happiness that I have is to, the minute something like that comes up - and it does… Forgiveness is not a light switch; it's a dimmer. And, you know, somebody keeps sneaking over and turning it up. But you have to be - you have to be mindful. You have to not go to the fear, not go to the anger, not go to that side, but go to the love of yourself, of your family.

- Bruce Lisker on NPR

Thank you for RP sharing with me Mr. Lisker’s story of wrongful imprisonment (26 years) for the murder of his adoptive mother.

Thank you for bridge people. They’re addicts recovered. Terminally ill healed. Dropouts with degrees. Wealthy who gained by loss and poor prevailing in abundance… 

Thank you for bridges of hope across impassable divides. 

Thank you for our ancestors protecting us.

Thank you for the honor to feel respected by the company we keep.  Thank you for our boundaries, our self esteem, nourishing respect.

Thank you for housemates’ thoughtful gifts. D came home with Clearly Canadians for bike rides. G brought almonds for smoothies, and then a dragon fruit. Thank you for our kitchen talks.

Thank you for the majesty of non human animals. Thank you for creatures at Kindred Spirits all having names—Pedro, Elvis, Vegan, Carmen, Bill, Ted… Thank you for Karen and Nate giving animals sanctuary. Thank you for the calm life in wordless expressions. (Mute sentience resembles my little girl.) 

Thank you for the New Yorker running an article on animal welfare. 

Thank you a million times over for even energy from massive smoothies washing down plates of greens and handfuls of berries.

Thank you for cold sleek door handles.

Thank you for squirrel shindigs beyond the kitchen window. 

Thank you for pit stops on rides. 

Thank you for gratuitous messages on the bottom of soda bottles (e.g., “Good thoughts. Good words. Good deeds.”)

Thank you for AV sending home dealers her design and specifications to order my house this winter. Thank you for her patience. 

Thank you for a fantasy to stay local with minimal visits into town. (Have you ever returned from a long trip and wanted only to hole up in your room?)

Thank you for SM’s healing. Thank you for wise father figures. Thank you for loved ones there for him.

Thank you for Sisters’ messages twinkling with love like holiday lights. 

Thank you for our protectors and those we protect.

Thank you for mutual positive regard. 

Thank you for NM’s month of travel (which hopefully includes rest).

Thank you for nudists. 

Thank you for the voices of interesting, caring humans all around. Thank you for when we appreciate them.

Thank you for decorating the tree with O and G. Thank you for our star on top. Thank you for our cozy digs. Thank you for nurturers of warmth. 

Thank you for meeting another phenomenal neighbor who hopefully will be a friend. 

Thank you for the gift of neighbors’ company on a ride.

Thank you for reveling in humor (the kind kind).  

Thank you for perfect cycling weather. 

Thank you for your and my focus on positives. They are legion!

Thank you for loved ones making life not just full but meaningful. 

Thank you for relative sobriety clearing thoughts. (Life is hazy enough sans tipsiness.) A lifted chemical fog reveals situations and people less filtered. And when pesky heaps of suffering aren’t as obscured, we can navigate around them. Landmarks show better too—dreams and values as guides.

Thank you for the humbling that resulted from my misplaced temper recently.

Thank you for grace of loving friends.

Thank you for overflowing emotions. 

Thank you for everyday cries.

Thank you for a safe train and bus ride with a sizable hiccup passengers took in stride.

Thank you for Christmastime in New Mexico. Thank you for open space.

Thank you for a mom whose past enjoyment of holiday decorating cultivated coziness. Thank you for this year reminiscent of then except maybe happier. Thank you for a warm welcome.

Thank you for year’s end, faire le bilan. On the down side for me is diminished focus lately. And I’ve struggled with intense flares of anger (although overall grumpiness seems reduced). Positivity may be on the rise; ease too, in some ways. New friends feel like a blessing.

What’s the difference between you this time last year and you now? (Viewed with nonjudgemental curiosity, please)

Thank you for 2024 resolutions:

1. Practice listening deeply to remove suffering

2. Practice surrendering to intuition

3. Practice elevating energy

4. Speak up (kindly) for self

5. Do (healthful) activities that attract and scare you

What are yours? It’s okay not to have any. Mine are sort of things I’d set out to do anyway.

Thank you for your dog(s).

Thank you for your peace adding to the world’s.

Wishing you warm company and easy smiles this holiday season. May your hope be the seed from which your truest dreams flourish!

Thank you for “Every fall leaves a scar. And those scars are there to remind us, not what went wrong, but what went right.” Is that cheesy? (It’s Will Evans.)

Thank you for woodpecker and blue jay fly-bys kicking off bike adventures.

Thank you for casual poop talk.

Thank you for a full house this week (popping off). Thank you for harmony.

Thank you for Duolingo showcasing goofy phrases like “J’ai renversé mes nouilles.”

Thank you for embracing joy in the juggle of life. 

Thank you for articles raising awareness of wealth (and emissions). Are you in the top ten percent, too?

Thank you for the four pebbles of freshness, solidity, still water, and freedom. (Is that right?) I could use a mega dose of them all lately.

Thank you for the nerve to stick up for myself when it felt like I was treated less than well this week. Even if I reacted rather than responded—causing more hurt—I’m glad to have said something. Thank you for forgiveness of us all.

Thank you for wake up calls to how much more healthy I could be. Thank you for determination to keep trying. Thank you for wellness practices. Thank you for compassion.

Thank you for old lessons, like the one from leaving a job at a homeless shelter in Hollywood to start Ivy League grad studies in NY. (Sorry if it’s another repeat.) The job was with an extremely low-SES population, and the studies were with crazy-high-SES folks.

It showed good is everywhere. Some contrasts, though, made a lasting impression. I decided that bits of what society values may actually be less good for us as individuals. And hardships, lack of status, etc., sometimes spur maturity, humility, compassion, human decency...

Thank you for Covenant House residents.

Thank you for good relationship advice.

Thank you for the latest read, Blink. The part about brutal police thinking like autistic folks should have been checked for kindness and accuracy. Still that book is eye opening (no pun intended). I learned about myself.

Thank you for an LLJ-inspired thought: contentment increases by moving out of the dark and approaching light. No one can deliver light to me. It’s not like I can remain in a less happy place and relocate happier, healthier things and people down to my level. (Doing so may have the opposite effect.) What works is me actually traveling from a dimmer locale toward the desired, “lighter” direction. Proximity to the origin of light makes us shine because we’re simply vessels.

The great thing for us is that maybe we will dwell in the company of “lighter” beings when we’re nearer the source, when the light that brightens them is also close enough to energize us. Is that sort of what it means to move to a better place? I wonder if healthy relationships involve mutual encouragement to be lightward bound.

Thank you for refusals of conventional media. When not immersed in it, glimpses are more transparent.

Thank you for information that shows behind the curtain (for instance, Blink fills us in on sensation transference).

Thank you again for plain brown packaging, second-hand goods, rescued mutts, whole foods. Thank you for value in what isn’t so promoted.

Thank you for another benefit of relative freedom from dependence: improved regulation of emotions. It leads to more evenness, or less unevenness. That builds trust.

Thank you for Samber.

Thank you for SM’s calm carrying him through a life-threatening situation. Thank you for his presence. 

Thank you for the miracle of health restored. Thank you for hope nourished.

Thank you for your prayers.

Thank you for miracles in your life, big and tiny, obvious and subtle.

Thank you for grace and gifts to come. May they bombard you with love <3

Thank you for kisses from little Audrey (goldendoodle).

Thank you for dog communication—pawing, licking, jumping, wiggling….

Thank you for when forgetting one’s self, in a funny way, births bravery.

Thank you for the unaffected variety of daring after ego sees its place in the universe across time.

Thank you for the cuteness of a puppy hiking a leg to pee on a plant.

Thank you for the funkiness of pepitas (especially in pestos).

Thank you for a little happiness.

Thank you for meditation on impermanence.

Thank you always for letting go of cows. Thank you for the rolling hills, the full moon, the blue sky, the beach, the river…

Thank you many times over for unfortunate situations actually feeling that way, when the feeling prompts transformation.

Thank you for a therapist’s inquiry about core values leading me to a past journal entry. 

Thank you for how much easier it is to think about values when secluded in a mountaintop haven with a sweet pooch.

Thank you for when our values guide daily living. (I’m less aware lately, so recalling an ideal self is a great idea.)

Thank you again for sock searches and rescues in oceans of sheets. 

Thank you for the quiet of naked blinks and the swish of mascara-y ones.

Thank you for peaceful wordless sounds. 

Thank you for calm voices.

Thank you for living simply on homegrown pleasure. I used to outsource pleasure more. My brain got so accustomed to depending on externals that it cut back production of its own feel-good stuff. 

So maybe it took a while for my newly sober-ish brain (all those years ago) to accept that it no longer would have its “happiness” delivered like an Amazon package. Slowly, it did grow to accept the new normal. Domestic manufacturing ramped back up. The feels I’d been importing, my self began to produce on its own. Now, endogenous elixirs boost peaceful moods simply and naturally (at least more so than before). 

Thank you for secondhand goods’ worth being more than material. 

Thank you for energies that linger in the belongings of those who’ve crossed, etc.

Thank you for recent Goodwill magic. Like on the last thrifting run, a Peach song greeted me. This time, the first book I picked up—Blink—had a cookie fortune tucked inside: Your troubles will cease and good fortune will smile upon you. The tees were soft, and the people were kind.

Thank you if practicing wellness makes me better at practicing wellness. (And if it benefits more than me.)

Do you ever feel like you’re not really good at any one thing? I do. We all have gifts to offer. They needn’t be big-name items. Wellbeing invested in diligently counts. What’s unspoken or undervalued can be priceless: caring, forgiving, practicing kindness, staying mindful (intentional…present…), cultivating equanimity, creating safe environments, being honest, having tenacity, offering warmth.… 

Thank you for exploration of promise. 

Thank you for when we pursue our calling.

Thank you again for Dad having young me try a bite of his latest veggies from the garden. I didn’t like the healthier stuff then, and now I do.

Thank you for family jokes about Dr. Dad’s advice. It seemed whenever we struggled with a bodily ailment, a lump or rash or whatever, he’d say the same thing: “Put hot packs on it.” 

Thank you for the downfall of Louie (hematoma).

Thank you for neighbors to ride with and learn from.

Thank you for a winding, breathtaking backyard with countless paths.

Thank you for game-changing tips on technique.

Thank you for positive reinforcement building confidence.

Thank you for funny new ways to talk. I’m a masher—grinder?—aspiring to be less so. (Are you one too? Are you more of a spinner?)

Thank you for vegan pastries at the little coffee place at Calamigos Ranch, and for the sweet neighbor who works there.

Thank you for Brazil nuts as chewable supplements.

Thank you for SM’s loving guidance through the years.

Thank you for when I wasn’t talking to him a few years ago, and he kept calling and texting anyway. Finally, my stubbornness melted. Thank you for his forgiveness. Thank you for the ability to face him after that absence. Thank you for how easy he made it to reconcile—no questions; only acceptance. Thank you for his strength.

Thank you for the warmth of his daughter.

Thank you for courage to face what seems impossible, with grace.

Thank you for caregivers and healthcare providers.

Thank you many times over for “nothing is too wonderful to be true.” 

Thank you for all of us who send prayers and meditations to those fighting serious illness. Please join with wishes for well being!

Wishing you well, too <3

Every damage done in the past can be healed if you know how to touch deeply the present moment. —Thich Nhat Hanh

Thank you for damage from my past healing through greater presence.

Thank you for love from neighbors at the Vision Zero meeting.

Thank you for SB welcoming me at her gathering. Thank you for serious bear hugs and for the promise of blossoming friendships. Thank you for Seminole sisters.

Thank you for a free fake snickers bar at Joi Cafe with GC. Thank you for bike rides to Joi.

Thank you for catching up with SL (aka Stishey) over turmeric oatmilk concoctions. Thank you for her acceptance. Thank you for pals from the La Reina days.

Thank you for TNT sharing solid, detailed advice on how to interview contractors based on her years of experience with that sort of thing.

Thank you for the salty crunch of potato chips. 

Thank you for habits to increase wellbeing in the mind.

Thank you for the power of communication to enhance intimacy.

Thank you for ribbons in the sky.

Thank you for a stranger’s tube and time on Malibu Canyon.

Thank you for impromptu dinners with roomies. Thank you for shared laughs. Thank you for the smell of their wine with the taste of my pasta.

Thank you for letting it be alive. 

Thank you for dissolvable stitches.

Thank you for nippy walks.

Thank you for Verizon service reps.

Thank you for NM’s enthusiasm and gratitude making it a pleasure to work with her. Thank you for her vulnerability. Thank you for her healing.

Thank you for the YMCA with DS.

Thank you for cultivating love and forgiveness so close relationships actually are close. Some family and friends used to feel like famemies and frenemies. From giving and getting space, by setting boundaries, with intentional efforts, animosity morphed into loving kindness (mostly).

Thank you for drinking water all day long.

Thank you for a new dessert to try for the roomies.

Thank you if my living with them adds any little bit to their wellness and happiness.

Thank you for the chance to experiment with a different life, even if it’s not easy. This sort of thing can be fun. Thank you for new people to know and learn from. Thank you for each phase strengthening the next one. 

Thank you for changes to look forward to in the coming year.

Thank you for the beauty in every single living creature and the lessons in each experience.

Thank you for crossing paths with genuinely kind folks.

Thank you for mindfulness of daily stress and ease helping to free enjoyment.

Thank you for SM making it on the lung transplant list.

Thank you for GC becoming a U.S. citizen.

Thank you for Moms’ friends to fill their lives with meaning.

Thank you for DS’s son visiting three weekends in a row.

Thank you for a trip to ABQ over Christmas and a dog to love on there.

Thank you for Mondays chopping vegetables at RP’s.

Thank you for weekday bike rides on canyon roads (less traffic).

Thank you for humble pals and neighbors.

Thank you for Sister Joyful Insight. Thank you for the contagion of her positivity.

Thank you for dog moms.

Thank you for Meyer lemon cakes.

Thank you for a roomie repairing the handle to my hatchback.

Thank you for the REI guys who serviced my bike.

Thank you for a heron near miss on the way to the shop.

Thank you for kindness in return for basic human decency. 

Thank you for hope that despite evidence to the contrary, we and our world are healing.

Thank you for appreciation of apples as snacks.

Thank you for lighthearted jokes in the vegan community about that one question we all are asked sooner or later.

Thank you for corny pea humor.

Thank you for moms and the bird lady rescuing a little one with clipped wings in the cold.

Thank you for choices that seemed like sacrifices (for the environment, animals…). Later, their selfish benefits brought home the reality of interbeing.

Thank you for what appears to be the young woman who asked Thay a question in 2013 then becoming ordained at Deer Park Monastery in 2023. Thank you for genuine seekers.

Thank you for days of mindfulness at Deer Park.

Thank you for a few fun quotes from a latest read, Being Peace:

So we are friends, and our happiness depends on each other. According to that teaching I have to take care of myself, and you take care of yourself. That way we help each other. . . .  If I only say, “Don’t do this, you have to do that,” and I don’t take care of myself, I can do many wrong things, and that does not help. I have to take care of myself, knowing that I am responsible for your happiness, and if you do the same, everything will be alright. This is the Buddha’s teaching about perception, based on the principle of dependent co-arising.

Sometimes if we don’t do anything, we help more than if we do a lot. We call that nonaction. It is like the calm person on a small boat in a storm. That person does not have to do much, just to be himself and the situation can change. That is also an aspect of Dharmakaya: not talking, not teaching, just being.

Guarding knowledge is not a good way to understand. Understanding means to throw away your knowledge. You have to be able to transcend your knowledge the way people climb a ladder. If you are on the fifth step of a ladder and think that you are very high, there is no hope for you to climb to the sixth. The technique is to release. The Buddhist way of understanding is always letting go of our views and knowledge in order to transcend. This is the most important teaching. That is why I use the image of water to talk about understanding. Knowledge is solid; it blocks the way of understanding. Water can flow, can penetrate.

Thank you for awareness that I’ve been too serious lately. And life feels harder than it should, or at least more constrained. Could it be instability from the last year or two? It’s getting better.

Thank you for what inspires us and keeps us well.

Thank you for beings who uplift us.

Thank you for freedom to travel our higher path.

Thank you for courage to dwell in truth.

Thank you for faith to shed what doesn’t serve us opening space to move toward what does. 

Thank you for appreciation that we have limited energy, so it matters what we spend it on. 

Thank you for energy devoted to caring for our selves. 

Thank you for reverence we have for our inner callings.

Thank you for deep, honest, care lasting and expanding what’s real. It brightens our light. Maybe, too, if we keep ourselves transparent—if we clear what’s opaque in us—then more of that inner light radiates.

Thank you for the light in you. <3

Thank you for the practice of joy.

Thank you for “every time we ask a question, we’re generating a possible version of a life.” - David Epston

Thank you for awareness of (repeating) dominant stories we tell about life and selves, and for the power of alternative stories to freshen things up. 

Thank you for nuns at Deer Park who chant for hungry ghosts. I doubt you’re a phantom like that. Who is, really? It’s sort of a less-than-positive judgment. Anyhow, I think we all have aspects of such hungriness in us. At the same time, some among us do seem extra lost, and their choices tend to alienate them from honest, healthy relationships. I’m grateful for the compassionate wishes that may be these ghosts’ best hope for healing.

Thank you for when we do (inside) work on who we are. Thank you for times I’m not trying to borrow or steal happiness from outside and instead assume responsibility for finding it within. The result is more effort on personal contentment. As wellness augments, kindness does too.

Thank you for practice spotting strengths in others and in myself. Thank you for efforts to make spotting strengths a thing. Thank you for that superpower in you.

Thank you for, “My life is what it should be just forgiving you.” - Seth Avett 

Thank you for different languages.

Thank you for small fish in big ponds. 

Thank you for one day at a time. 

Thank you for awareness of illusions.

Thank you for advice to self. This one stands out: Remember to accept your sadness and choose positivity, both at once. There is pain, and there are love, beauty, wonder, hope….

Thank you for the gray haired couple walking ahead of me Sunday morning in the ‘burbs. His arm slid down from her waist for a playful cheek squeeze or two. (Or three.) 

Thank you for naming parts and things—car parts, body parts, fragments of feelings, situations. Such labels or concepts can distance us from reality like a middle man who grabs attention from what he stands before, distracting us from nameless actualities. 

When we put names onto concepts that are already implicit in our heads, though—when we give the (covert) middle man a title—it actually adds transparency. It shows he’s there. It reveals that some more concrete and limited understanding represents the real deal that isn’t fully represented by concepts or labels. To make explicit the unspoken understanding, being as specific as possible, shows assumptions. Our view then expands. (I don’t know how much sense that makes.)

Thank you for small details mattering in big ways.

Thank you for different kinds and levels and ways of love.

Thank you for happy times melting sadness last week. I went to my lot. A guy asked if he could let his labs free there, so I obliged in exchange for their affection. Then a peacock joined me in a visit to friends off Triunfo. Not long after, their neighbor’s cat jumped in my lap. A little doggy stopped by for a quick massage. And Cindy brought out pancakes to hand-feed the baby pea hens at her door in search of nibbles. 

Thank you for a few of my superpowers: I’m happy in solitude (enjoy my own company as narcissistic as it may sound). Rumination often has positive outcomes for me, so thinking too much is less of an issue. I can feel at home in diverse settings. And I believe people at their core are good. 

What are three or four of your superpowers? If you feel like ‘ish about yourself, listing them may help. And if it’s too hard to come up with something, ask a loved one!

Some superpowers I can think of in humbler friends: Seeing strengths in others. Respecting others’ freedom and decisions. Loyalty or devotion. Forgiveness. Persistence. Self awareness. Sensitivity that lends to gentleness and respect (soft powers with weighty impacts).

Thank you for inexpensive superfoods like beets, cabbage, sweet potatoes, and oats.

Thank you for the choice to try happiness on the first anniversary of a difficult day. The day reinforced the idea that life is sort of what I make it. Just like accepting sadness is crucial, deciding to be happy is possible. 

Thank you for an exhilaratingly close hawk fly-by on the walking path one morning.

Thank you for funny thoughts from looking up hawk photos on the New York Public Library website to match the above sentence. The photo search got me reminiscing about the hawk that used to watch over Peaches and me from its perch on the eucalyptus tree at the Mulholland lot. The library search result turned up lots of “sparrow hawk” pics, too, which was neat considering I had just helped a friend on Sparrowhawk Lane yesterday. I don’t know why this other random detail seemed interesting on top of the others: images from George Balanchine’s Jewels (the emeralds) for some reason surfaced in the NY public library’s search results for “hawk.” That’s the ballet I saw last month at the Lincoln Center (where Balanchine made his mark). Finding funny connections makes life interesting, at least.

Thank you for recording dreams, then rereading and interpreting them in different ways. It strengthens honesty muscles while it teaches about myself. So dream journaling is practice in truthfulness. What are other everyday exercises to flex your honesty muscles? 

Thank you for empowerment.

Thank you for every finish line being a starting line. May our little daily habits hone the insight to discern higher paths ahead. If we focus on blessings and promise, we’ll travel those paths. They’ll lead us through dark stretches into light.

Grace is spiritual WD-40, or water wings. The mystery of grace is that God loves Henry Kissinger and Vladimir Putin and me exactly as much as He or She loves your new grandchild. Go figure. — Anne Lamott

Thank you for the love we deserve no matter what.

Thank you for kindness being unattached.

Thank you for extended sabbaticals (like the one I took from work) because maybe there is something good about breaks that are longer than we think they should be. 

Thank you for the beauty of twisted oaks.

Thank you for free performing art shows by birdies in the sky. 

Thank you for values. It helps when I think of what mine are. Why do they matter? How does my passage through each day, little moments to bigger stuff, align with them?

Thank you for learning from the past. The coaching program is presenting challenges because it seems to transmit potentially harmful (and not based on solid evidence) information. Before, if I saw that, I’d run. Now, I’m thinking in shades of gray. 

Thank you for a few of the (many) pros of a vegan diet that’s mainly whole foods. Society may want us to believe these distinct possibilities aren’t available in one package: Enjoyment of a limitless and guilt-free abundance of starchy goodness. Freedom from calorie counting and portion restriction. Freedom from worries about consuming enough protein or too much gluten. Freedom from fears of becoming overweight. Lower chances of lifestyle-related illness.

Thank you for focus on the three T’s aiding my transition to a vegan diet. Satiety means staying full with plenty of whole plant foods. Novelty involves trying new options and different takes on familiar ones to keep meals exciting. And variety means regularly chomping a rainbow of diverse fruits, veggies, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. It’s beautiful. It’s abundant. It’s simple. And the health it contributes to feeds happiness.

Thank you for the lady who saw me ogling her Irish setter, Winston, and invited me to pet him. Thank you for his big soft head. 

Thank you for the oak leaf that blew into my hand walking away from the rental car place in TO after a long couple days.

Thank you for friends’ responses to Fatima so far—KG’s for instance: “I think of it as sort of a nothing burger.”

Thank you to the stranger who said I looked nice and cozy, when inside I felt like a slob. Thank you for noticing that to think of myself as a slob is less than kind.

Thank you for compliments from strangers (like when the man walked up to Sis at Lawry’s).

Thank you for HALT coming in handy this week. Luckily awareness of sleep deprivation, hungries, loneliness, etc, unveils the deception in thoughts. The truth is that my pessimistic narratives spring neither from reality nor from a vision of it I’d like to manifest. They’re a biased add-on. So telling myself, “You’re tired right now. Pause your mulling until you’ve had a good sleep,” helps to ride out the waves.

Thank you for sobriety clearing the fog that gathers in its absence.

Thank you for planning. We can plan for hiccups in advance. We can assume they’ll happen and decide beforehand how we’ll move forward once they do. 

Thank you for instead of simply giving up what’s unhealthy, filling the void with alternatives.

Thank you for when you and I and he and she have the courage to go the upright route.

Thank you for awkward conversations that increase intimacy. Thank you for bravery to start them. Thank you for practice to improve at them. I wish us all a flood of uncomfortable conversations throughout life, and the perspective to enjoy a chuckle at our fears.

Thank you for a morning walk past a fig tree and a lime tree by the Ventura County line. Thank you for eucalyptus out my bedroom window reminding me of Dad. Thank you for trees that feel like home.

Thank you for songs matching thoughts and responding to questions. 

Thank you for leaps of faith.

Thank you for roomies different than I’d imagined, in interesting ways. Thank you for painful pasts deepening their kindness. Thank you for their sons as lasting gifts from decades-long relationships that ultimately ran their course. Thank you for our unanimous appreciation of the home we share. Thank you for the woman who brought us together.

Thank you for the irony of going down in some respects to reach higher. Turning back may move me forward.

Thank you for integrity to give space to men and women battered by choices they don’t understand have been theirs. Thank you if that space helps them even a tiny bit. Thank you for visions of their solid, courageous, honest, empowered selves. Thank you for hope that everyone’s path will lead higher regardless of what that looks like or how long it takes.

Thank you for JL sending a pic of her veggie sandwich with hummus and alfalfa sprouts. It inspired me to munch more or those little powerhouses. Thank you for our virtuous cycle.

Thank you for monster burritos to make up for calorie deficits.

Thank you for future bike rides.

Thank you for descents becoming less scary. Thank you for all-out efforts down Mulholland twisties.

Thank you for friendly faces at the Old Place.

Thank you for a visit to homies at Seminole and for love from their doggles. I wonder if they realize how much they mean to me. (Maybe I should communicate that lol.)

Thank you for the choice to make the best of difficult anniversaries.

Thank you for when a future that seemed unimaginable instead leaves you grateful for the pain of the past. I’ll get there!

Thank you for insight into where different paths may lead based on how they’re traveled. For instance, I’ll do well to walk upright in the light with truth as a guide... (Does the journeying itself create the way?)

Thank you for thinking about thoughts (related to the HALT thing). A walk the other morning happened on an empty belly, with itunes piping sad music in my ears—angry women lambasting men who’d wronged them and such. So the mean reds flooded my heart. Back home, I had breakfast, brushed my teeth, and washed my face, only to feel happy vibes return. 

It reminded me of what it is to be kind. For me, it never works to rely on will or discipline or intent alone for that sort of thing. Nor do I feel good about kid-before-Christmas kindness (doing it for the presents). I try instead to arrange life so the good stuff just feels right to do because it is right.

And it does feel that way. Sometimes. Or it can, especially if I practice a certain way. Wellness is key. When fresh plant foods and nature and walks and rest balance my body, when right messages fill my ears and eyes—then the intention toward kindness sort of for its own sake flows into action like it’s going with gravity. Sure, wellness isn’t always possible. But persistently seeking to do a little bit better, to have a little more balance, to be ever more honest, usually is. A life filled with these positive micro-choices may elevate us. (I don’t know…)

Thank you for the randomness of repetitive gratitude lists. Thank you again for feeling doubt mixed with shame and posting anyway.

Thank you for the aim to choose better this week. Thank you for gentleness on ourselves when we’ve chosen lass than wisely. Thank you for learning from the past and trying our best. Thank you for rest. Wishing you decent bedtimes and deep sleep for strong days to come! <3

“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add but when there is nothing left to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery (quoted here).

Thank you for a paradoxical decline of regrets with age.

Thank you for tragic optimism and non-dual thinking for greater joy in life.

Thank you for the man at the arroyo justifying to a stranger his choice to let a friend off leash: “This is the only time he gets to be a dog.”

Thank you for more simple wisdom from Thich Nhat Hanh: “Mindfulness is connected with concentration and insight; if you practice mindfulness well, you get concentration and insight at the same time.”

And, “Understanding people is a miracle.” 

Thank you for reality being surreal.

Thank you for taking stock of the past few years or so. I lost a best friend. Gained a sister. Started a career path that’s based in love. Moved and moved and moved, and am moving. Acquired a home. Let it go. Found Home. Felt embraced by community. Same with family. Formed sustaining friendships. Opened eyes to the other side and its signs. Revamped outlook and look. Enjoyed heart-expanding adventures. Felt loved and hurt and loved and broken and whole. Practiced forgiveness. Enlarged acceptance…

Thank you for life’s beauty and brilliance.

Thank you for seemingly solid relationship advice tempered with intuition, tailored to fit, tested with critical thought.

Thank you for sister humor sprinkling days with joy.

Thank you for big sister encouragement easing the stress of another move.

Thank you for supportive moms easing it, too.

Thank you for a request on a morning walk answered by a white winged dove. It gave hope that maybe the healing I struggle with is possible.

Thank you for pups hiking with bandanas around their necks.

Thank you for the crispness of vibrant skies this time of year.

Thank you for accents from Oklahoman cousins reminding me of Dad’s drawl. Thank you for Sister’s ties with them linking us like a bridge.

Thank you for a warm chat with a caring program facilitator. 

Thank you for practice with others in the cohort despite the urge to escape. Thank you for when fear faced morphs into connection.

Thank you for cilantro in pineapple smoothies.

Thank you for tomorrow’s road trip to Cali and the opportunity to sing off key with no one hearing. Thank you for new friends who made the move possible. Even if snafus happen, thank you for steps in the direction called. 

It’s relative, but thank you for traveling somewhat light.

Thank you for seemingly good risks taken.

Thank you, if all goes well, for a family visit this winter.

Thank you for time seeing us through.

Thank you for all that inspires you. (May you immerse yourself in it.) Thank you for what brings you peace. (May you cherish it.) Thank you for awareness of your higher path. (May you cultivate it.)

Thank you for cheesiness.

Thank you for resting easy. Thank you for faith that pursuing what’s healthy “works” in unforeseen ways.

Wishing you well <3

Thank you for Sister teaching me om mani padme hum.

Thank you for unconditional acceptance from family and friends.

Thank you for a risk taken. Thank you for compassionate experts who minimized danger and maximized comfort.

Thank you for loved ones, even if far away.

Thank you for contentedness to travel solo knowing they’re with me.

Thank you for when we journey to places impacted by climate-related catastrophes, only because they further awaken us to the call for change. Thank you for all the shifts we are prioritizing then making, from the bottom up to the top down— from individuals, families and workplaces to corporations, governments…

Thank you for vegan Ethiopian takeout.

Thank you for rainy walks through Central Park.

Thank you for performance artists who earn their keep prancing on their tiptoes.

Thank you for the New York City Ballet.

Thank you for myriad ways to express creativity.

Thank you for transcendent experiences. (When have you felt a sense of awe lift you beyond yourself?)

Thank you for the meaning in stories we create about our paths, our lives, and our selves. Thank you for redemptive stories. Thank you for when we find the benefit in our history, make sense of it, or simply search for its significance.

Thank you for gems from coaching books that explore how we humans up our wellness. One nugget is that change is not a decision or event but a process. 

Thank you for Prochaska’s readiness for change model depicting the non-linear nature of progress. It’s a spiral that we cycle (and re-cycle) through.

Thank you for forgiveness of lapses and even total relapses. I’m nicer to myself when I accept twists on my path.

Thank you for Hebb’s law: “Neurons that fire together, wire together.” Thank you for neuronal plasticity.

Thank you for noticing in us what’s easy to overlook—our gradual progress, our unspoken strengths, our positive impacts and everyday superpowers…

Thank you for mellow vibes and lively ones. Thank you for joyfulness. Thank you for compassion. Thank you for every gift having its place.

Thank you for public policies in Singapore that lead to healthier (and happier) citizens. (At least that’s how it looked from the Blue Zones docuseries.)

Thank you for ancient foods like bread, beans, corn, squash… Thank you for rustic dishes like congee and minestrone.

Thank you for a realization that I won’t be bored or lonely as long as I’m happy to help those I view with respect. Accepting help may have similar benefits.

Thank you for the grapefruit-blood-orange flavor of dried golden berries.

Thank you for clean feelings from eating whole plant foods.

Thank you for hydration.

Thank you for the combo of energy without stimulants and calm without relaxers.

Thank you for another 3D dream of cuddling my little girl.

Thank you for Laura Lynne Jackson visiting SoCal in 2024.

Thank you for sister visits.

Thank you for a safe, happy east coast trip. 

Thank you for the elderly couple cuddling and smooching while they watched a movie on their laptop at the Penn Station Amtrak lounge. Wishing you someone special to smooch in your golden years, too!

Thank you for strangers waving at each other through train windows. 

Thank you again for a move back to SoCal that seems too soon. But I have faith it will work.

Thank you for everything home means to us.

Thank you for, despite challenges, so much going right, and for faith to sustain trust.

Thank you for the via character strengths survey. (Is this a repeat too?) It’s another of those free online surveys that tell you fun stuff about yourself.

Thank you for your patience.

Thank you for your unique character strengths. Thank you for what brings you joy. Thank you for the compassionate boundaries that protect your stability, your wellness. Thank you for resilience, tenacity, and faith to move you forward. Thank you for charitable honesty toward yourself, hand in hand with forgiveness, and how they nourish.

Thank you for visiting. I wish you everything good! <3

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started . . . and know the place for the first time. —T.S. Eliot

Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thank you for growth from pushing outside one’s familiar bubble.

Thank you for acknowledgement of all our challenges paired with faith in the goodness of humanity.

Thank you for Washington DC Air BnB hosts raising my awareness of what’s going on in their home country of Tibet. Thank you for everything being impermanent. Thank you for when S may have the opportunity to see her family again.

Thank you for the friendliness of the lady who sold me Hippeas at the Amtrak Cafe.

Thank you for the heart melt when J’s boy asked, “Can I call you my little plushie?”

Thank you for J sharing with me her and Z’s epic love story from the beginning, and letting me in on more of her past than ever. Thank you for the trust to confide in her likewise. It’s funny how you can know someone most of your life and still learn about each other. Thank you for her quotes, borrowed and original. (Problems really are opportunities in disguise!) Thank you for her and Z’s kindness uplifting others. Thank you for their success.

Thank you for their boys’ personalities and character. Thank you for the atmosphere of respect they’ve grown up in. Thank you for Pippin’s smile. Thank you for the privilege to be included in an extraordinary family, to be part of a loving home. Thank you for daily life with them. Thank you for laughing until crying. Thank you for hugs in abundance.

Thank you for “weird” folks like us.

Thank you for traveling light.

Thank you for sailboats on the Hudson.

Thank you for subway cars packed with colors.

Thank you for rainy days that give birth to rainbows. Thank you for rainbows not discriminating. They pop up in country canyons, on tropical islands, in the heart of Brooklyn… Anywhere!

Thank you for Bed-Stuy hairdos showcasing a beauty some of us have struggled to accept in ourselves.

Thank you for embracing my home-free inner gypsy.

Thank you for a hiatus from makeup.

Thank you for confidence expanding.

Thank you for what the “push your flaws” quote tells me. Certain things about me I’ve struggled to appreciate. If they’re alterable and the change seems positive, then I’ve been going for it. Other stuff I’m growing to embrace as-is. I guess what’s worth changing and what we embrace are really up to each of us to figure out for ourselves. IDK…

I do wonder if some or most “flaws” we perceive in ourselves are simply parts that stand out because they’re different. Really they needn’t be considered flaws but valuable rarities that were just misinterpreted.

Thank you for CBT articulating errors in thinking to spur insights into self and others. Thank you for online resources. Thank you for empowerment through understanding.

Thank you for the positive lifestyles in Dan Buettner’s new Netflix series on the blue zones. I’ve only watched the first two episodes so far. (Okinawa’s now added to the dream travel list!)

Thank you for the comfort factor in the Big Apple. Walkability may play a role. Plus New Yorkers live so much in plain view that there’s less room for pretense. Interactions otherwise behind closed doors or in backyards happen right in the open. (I think disarming may be a good word for it.)

Thank you for the City’s “this is who I am” style. Thank you for its attitude. Thank you for hodgepodge cohesiveness when heaps of colorful dots meld into a single entity unlike anything else. 

To be one of the dots is an honor. I guess we all are tiny dots all the time if we really think about it. We’re little pieces of a big picture, and we sustain the whole alive in us.

Thank you for the invigoration of adventure and the joy of returning home. 

Thank you for accepting family. 

Thank you for Sister journeys toward peace. Thank you for the work we do expanding us. Thank you for love from the universe along the way.

Thank you (again) for a move to Cali in a few weeks offering an unmet future and new friends.

May faith in your vision of happiness—of wholeness—keep opening paths for you, too.

May our acknowledgement of strengths and appreciation for progress encourage their growth.

Thank you for you.

Be well <3

Thank you always for everyday miracles. 

Thank you for an all-blue big rig, like a huge bright toy, spotted on a ride toward Sandia Crest. Thank you for a dream showing it to me a couple nights before it popped up in real life. I’m grateful for funny coincidences sending messages that we’re not alone. 

Thank you for dreams. Thank you for corny songs that say we deserve to dream.

Thank you for Andrew Huberman’s info to demystify what happens when we’re under the influence. For instance, he shared two different identified causes for the munchies. If I remember correctly, one has to do with actual bodily hunger, or increased appetite; another is psychological and results from the tendency to zoom in narrowly on thoughts. Under certain influences, if we’re hungry or have a craving, our minds’ obsessive focus may intensify it. 

Thank you for knowledge that empowers.

Thank you for instead of feeding depression, feeding love. I feed love in how I choose to see others. I feed it with affectionate regard, kind boundaries, and forgiveness. I feed it when letting go of anger to hold compassion.

Thank you for our narratives that serve as voice overs for life’s episodes. Filling in gaps or uncertainties with charitable descriptions feeds love. 

Thank you for belief in goodness molding approaches to life.

Thank you for hundreds of school kids walking along Juan Tabo during a morning stroll recently. First I tried to avoid them. Then, when I crossed to their side of the street, several waved at me. Even more cheered after I waved back. A teenage girl gave me a high five (not sure why). Strangers’ attention mattered to them. I wonder if they knew how they uplifted strangers.

Thank you for human connections. 

Thank you for the street lights along the block flashing on and off and on again when “Love Will Find a Way” repeated in my headphones. 

Thank you for running into J and C at Sprouts during an emergency trip for a chocolate chip cookie. J showed up in the cookie section eyeing the same treats as me. Thank you for his buying the box I’d picked out and letting me have just the two that I wanted. Thank you for a happy chat with C and Seppe in the parking lot while he finished shopping. 

Thank you for J (a BFAM) always thinking of how to give.

Thank you for a funny perspective brought on by dreams. Have you ever stepped back and looked at your life from the outside, like watching a movie, with the you that’s living now as a character? If you were watching your life play out on screen, what “ending” would you want? 

I don’t mean the very final ending. I mean the happily-ever-after resolutions along the way, where the troubled kid sees the light, the guy gets the girl, the prisoner becomes free, the oppressed weather war…

What’s different from real life is often you can tell how movies will unfold. The pivotal moments stand out in advance, and you can root for beloved characters to choose options that seem to lead them higher. 

How would I feel about my path if I could see my life from the outside? (Not that our circumstances are all up to us. But I guess how we respond to them is. IDK…)

Thank you for a new batch of inspiration from Thich Nhat Hanh teaching videos.

Thank you for mindfulness of painful feelings.

Thank you for resting in the universe. “Most of our suffering comes from our wrong perceptions. That is why we should have the time to consider, to look deeply into the nature of our perceptions in order not to be caught in them, by them.”

Thank you for peace in ourselves. “If we have some peace in our body, in our feelings, in our emotions, in our perceptions, then we can help the other to have peace in his or her emotions, perceptions, and feelings also. We have to begin with ourselves.”

And a real zinger: “You are tired. You feel tired as a wave, and you want to be water. And you hope that you can find water somewhere. But in fact water is in you, is you…. If the wave continues to run, she will never see and meet water. The only way for the wave to meet the water is to go home to herself.”

Thank you for Peter Attia on the Rich Roll Podcast discussing his anger—e.g., a tantrum where he literally threw a table across a room in front of his partner. Not many “successful” people are so vulnerable about their struggles. When they are, it shows we all have stuff. We’re not alone. 

Thank you for Sister shares expanding horizons.

Thank you for inspiration from loved ones.

Thank you for PFEs. I wish them on you in abundance!

Thank you for your positive karma when you do something difficult that adds light. It may hurt like a failure at first, like a test you know you bombed before even seeing the results. 

If you were trying to do what’s honest—if your intent held love—the ultimate “grade” reflects that. And true results are not superficial like a grade. They’re the good that grows from intentions planted in action. 

Thank you for a drawing of peonies in the hallway closet sparking a heartfelt chat.

Thank you the romance of a simpler life possible in the next few years. 

Thank you for adventures where days are so pared down that “brush teeth” goes on the to-do list.

Thank you for New River Gorge in West Virginia, for postcard landscapes from train windows.

Thank you for shuffle playing the right songs at the right times. Like a song about West Virginia just before we arrived there, and another about a train heading into a station as we inched into the DC station.

Thank you for a meaningful visit with LF in DC. Thank you for genuine friends.

Thank you for rewards to self. To grow, I can give tiny rewards like sincere encouragement immediately after I do desired behaviors.

Thank you for psychology (cognitive, behavioral…) applied to selves. Thank you for tools to align us with our dreams and visions.

Thank you for role models, for people who inspire. Who are yours? Who has overcome hardship in a standout way? Who are you proud to be like?

Thank you for interesting perspectives from the latest read (a health coaching book). Here’s one: When I’ve tried something many times and not succeeded, that means my persistence is strong. And in those repeated efforts are clues of what’s important to me.

Thank you for meta-cognitions.

Thank you for construction of a home mindset while a real life home materializes. 

Thank you for times we’ve struggled to heed our heart’s call.

Thank you for when awareness of emotions and their consequences leads us to protect loved ones (and strangers) from our less-than-positive sides.

Thank you for self doubts that evidence the courage to ask difficult questions.

Thank you for when we’ve given respect to those not used to receiving it.

Thank you for your kindness helping others to feel heard, valued, and connected. Thank you for your warmth melting their cold.

Thank you for your insecurities showing your humility.

Thank you for the joy in you sparking joy in others.

Thank you for when your peacefulness instills a sense of peace.