|
Dear Subscriber First Name, If you are like me, it can feel challenging to wake up grateful this week. Strong emotions arise, unbidden, at all hours of the day and night. I keep working my spiritual musculature to welcome and hold the weight of all my feelings; to accept and trust them, to listen for their guidance, to appreciate their wisdom. I want to be a gracious host for what is true, and I want to be “of use,” but I don’t know how…yet. And so - trying not to go numb in the process - I breathe and I grieve, comforted in knowing that I am in good company. And I am grateful. Grateful as well. “When my eyes fill with wonder and my heart with love or joy, I do not betray my concerns for the world — I nourish my capacity to attend to them.” I wrote that line in the article below a few years ago, and I know it as truth. What I believe with all my heart is that it is a vitally radical act to continue to celebrate and uplift that which sustains love and life in the face of forces that want us to cower. It is a necessity in any movement toward a just future, and it has been the sustaining impulse toward life for so many individuals who have helped to lead the way. It might be hard, but I believe it is critically important, especially in challenging times, to notice and name - and so to honor - all that feeds our souls. You could say that it is an enlivening, empowering act of defiance to do so. In this spirit, here are some sustaining things I can notice that I am grateful for today: Loved ones with whom tender hearts are welcomed and swaddled. Poetry, for its ability to succinctly express the expansive truths and ineffable depths which I am longing to honor. The great outdoors, for the sight of stars and the sliver of moon in the middle of a frosty night, the sounds of birdsong and wind in the tall pines, and the feel of my feet on the ground as I walk beside the river. The sun, predictable when little else might be, rising and setting every day. And the glorious light it brings when it emerges from under cover. The kitchen, where I delight in converting the earth’s bounty into fragrant, nourishing food I can share with others. My breath. My breath. My blessed breath.
Please join me in the radical practice of embracing and celebrating that which sustains and nourishes you. Every day, take the time to notice, uplift, and tend what you are most grateful for. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section under the article below. It is good medicine for all of us to share our grateful hearts with each other. May the resources on my website and in the museletter below nourish you, and help your light to shine a bit brighter whenever you emerge - like the sun - from under cover in all the days ahead. From my grateful heart to yours -
|
