1. Morning walks. It’s been a bit colder and darker but the sunrise…
2. Photogenic Mr. Ringo Blue. So handsome, so patient.
3. All the helpers. People in the medical profession helping animals and people, first responders, grocery store employees, pharmacists, scientists, trash collectors, teachers, all the various people making sure our spaces are clean and functional, those who come to our homes and fix our stuff, therapists, those who harvest and process and transport our food. That’s a short incomplete list, but my gratitude is without end.
4. Practice. Writing with my Friday morning sangha, sitting in meditation in my practice room, making art with Calyx.
5. My tiny family, my tiny home, my tiny life. To be loved and cared for and kept company and made to laugh like this is all I ever wanted.
Peek-a-booPeek-a-boo
Bonus joy: cancelling plans when I don’t feel up to it, green grapes, clean laundry, clean sheets, down blankets and pillows, texting with Chloe’ and Chris and Mom, sharing food that I cooked, getting in the pool, sitting in the sauna, the hydromassage chair, the loaf of bread Dana gave me, my nutritionist, my therapist and the therapy dog at her office, my HappyLight, the birds feeding from the apple tree in our neighbors yard, the squirrel eating pineapple from our compost pile, early morning walkers, taking the side trails just to see where they go, napping, listening to podcasts, reading in bed at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.
1. Learning To Love Being Wrong, “And why being right is boring” from Andrea Gibson. “When we lose our vice grip on being right, we are more open to having our minds and hearts changed. Open minds and hearts lead to a more peaceful, compassionate world.”
8. Wisdom from Dza Kilung Rinpoche: “Sometimes it may seem that meditation means trying to do something different—to be something different. But it’s not that way really. What we’re really trying to do is to be what we already are. We discover the true nature of mind, instead of trying to be something else. But often we look at our thoughts and emotions, and we struggle with these, thinking that our mind’s nature is somewhere in there. But according to the Buddhist teachings, the true nature of mind is beyond disturbances; it is vast, spacious, and pure. And when we are connected to our true nature, to openness, there is a great potential for us to recognize that ‘This feels very familiar, this state of undisturbed mind.’ Intuitively we know we are home.”
12. The Standing Rock resistance and our fight for Indigenous rights, (TED Talk). “Still invisible and often an afterthought, Indigenous peoples are uniting to protect the world’s water, lands and history — while trying to heal from genocide and ongoing inequality. Tribal attorney and Couchiching First Nation citizen Tara Houska chronicles the history of attempts by government and industry to eradicate the legitimacy of Indigenous peoples’ land and culture, including the months-long standoff at Standing Rock which rallied thousands around the world. ‘It’s incredible what you can do when you stand together,’ Houska says. ‘Stand with us — empathize, learn, grow, change the conversation.'”
13. The modern family. “Amid distance and estrangement and strain, some are happily replacing the clans they’re born into with chosen families.”
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 