This morning I was up and out of the house at 4:45. I drove Michal to the San Francisco airport for her flight to Saint Louis to spend Thanksgiving with her Dad and his family. Even though I got home and went back to sleep for a few hours, my tail feathers were dragging pretty much all day. I did manage to get out of the house and a walk around the park with Honor. It had been a couple of weeks since I’d taken her so it was good for her to get out as well. As the rainy weather of winter approaches, our opportunities for dry walks at Chavez Park diminishes. I needed the fresh air, and even though it was overcast and chilly I was glad I went.
I am grateful this evening for the tools I’ve accumulated to help me keep myself encouraged. Sometimes I only need fine-tuning tools when things need to be tweaked a little bit; others I need major demolition tools like a massive sledge hammer to blast down obstacles and walls of resistance and depression. This week I’ve had to pull out a variety of implements to work my way through the various downs and ups of the week. It’s been a challenge, but I find that somehow I can still spend time thinking about what I am grateful for in my life. And that is a good thing.
I still haven’t sat down and reread all now 142 entries of this blog. Perhaps I will use the Thanksgiving holiday as a time to begin to look at them as a way of realizing how important focusing on gratitude has been in my life these past few months. I imagine I will get a sense of my spiritual and emotional movement since I began writing at the end of June. It will be good to be reminded that I have in fact made progress, even when weeks like this challenge that fact. Saving time, usually at the end of the day, to cultivate a grateful heart has been one of the best investments I can make. Moment by moment, day by day allowing myself to focus on what I appreciate, what I am thankful for has been one consistent thing I’ve maintained . My ability to articulate this gratitude on a daily basis ebbs and flows–sometimes I have a harder time than others finding ways to express my thankfulness in a coherent way. But in truth, the expression needs to be no more articulate than a simple, sincere “thank you” that registers itself first in my heart, then out onto the page (screen).
Tomorrow begins a new week. I am holding the intention of making it a good one; that I will walk through it with ease and peace, as well as with gratitude and wellbeing. May we all know ease and wellbeing this week.
