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Articles tagged with: gratitude

Nothing Has Been Wasted

a litany from the open heart

Nothing Has Been Wasted

I want to pause a moment on this insight I mentioned last time, that nothing has been wasted. Even when it felt like my life was unadulterated pain and misery, there were elements that got me to where I am now.

On Saturday evening, I went to Dances of Universal Peace, a Sufi event where all comers sing and dance together, songs and dances from traditions all over the world. I had a moment of self-consciousness about this bigger body I now find myself in, and I looked around the room at the 12 or 15 of us ranging in age from 20s to 70s, ranging from tall to tiny, from broad to spindly, dark skin to white skin, myself included in the circle, and my heart opened wide.

Birthday Check-in From the Other Side

perhaps a monster no longer

Birthday Check-in From the Other Side

From the other side of the world, from the other side of thirty-nine years, I salute my then-new mother on the other side of her hard labor.

From the other side of the screen, you--dear reader--come to this blog to see what's new. Sometimes there's a new post every time you check; other times, all is static for a month at a time. Perhaps that unchanged front-page post each time is no less fresh/novel/new than the parade of new posts.

From the other other side, I am still here, I am working hard, I am in material precarity but trusting in divine guidance.

So, what else is new?

Back Online, Back to Gratitude

Wordle: Thanksgiving_unconditionalA happy Thanksgiving to everyone! A happy festive season as we move into the northern hemisphere's still, dark point. Time to reflect, to consume this year's harvest, to huddle and cuddle, enjoy one another. Even here, where the sun shines almost every day of the year, the days are short and cold. A touch of frost a couple nights ago, even one or two overcast days.

Unconditional Gratitude (Word of the Week)

It _had_ to be word of the week, didn't it?

Unconditional Gratitude (Word of the Week)

Gratitude. Thanksgiving. Gratitude (Latin gratitudo) is a state of mind. Thanksgiving is a direct translation of the Latin gratias actio -- action, specifically a performance, enactment, of thanks.

Latin gratias means "thanks," but also it means "grace," in all the multi-splendored nuances of that word. Old-English thanc instead is cognate with "think" -- thanksgiving is an enaction of your state of thoughts.

Giving thanks and feeling gratitude--are they the same for you? This is a tail that can wag the dog--the action can lead to the feeling.

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