It’s evening meditation time. I feel it’s important for us to express gratitude for all we have in life. It’s very easy to focus on the things that are wrong. The things which stand out that are not ideal. And yet in most of our lives we have SO much to be grateful for. Things which literally half of our Planet Earth’s population would desperately dream of having. It is just an accident of where we are born, that we have what we have. Especially for us women, we could easily have been born somewhere where we were forced into a hostile marriage at age 13 and become trapped for life.
I am grateful our cats, Felix and Zuzu, are in good health. In the past week alone they managed to find a skein of yarn to consume (well not the entire skein) and then some “printer ink cleaning water” to drink. Plus one apparently fell from the top of the kitchen counters. Our little tiger barbs ran into some tank issues which we are dealing with. Bob and I are doing well, and I finally invested the time to clear out my yoga area of the kitchen. Just in the past three days I lost five pounds thanks to finally getting back into my yoga routine. And I feel SO much better. My wrist and back aches are fading.
I’m incredibly grateful for the Blackstone Valley Art Association. We have amazing shows which inspire me daily. I was talking with someone who has to go to extremes to spend time with creative folks. It made me realize that I am surrounded DAILY with amazing creative folks. There are the BVAA members who are astounding. My two writing groups. The bands I hang out with. Creativity is just oozing everywhere. Some people crave that! I need to be more aware of just how lucky I am to have this.
My finances are rough with late-in-life college debt, and sometimes I tend to feel the burden of that, but I need to remind myself of how many different income streams I have. I will get through the debt. I need to stay focused and keep moving forward. I am grateful I have that option.
I especially am grateful for the support of so many family and friends. Some people are burdened with caustic family members or denigrating friends. I am so, so fortunate that my community actively believes in me and cheers me on. Bob just today was mailing out my cyanotype sale for me, Pam spent three hours untangling butterflies with me so we could decorate the art gallery, and on Saturday Bob and I will run to the Stone Zoo so I can finally write book 10 in my zoo series and wrap that series up. And in between there’ll be the celebration for our Series show on Friday, a fun Slow Art Day at the gallery on Saturday, the big celebration of the Art-Poetry show on Sunday, and who knows what else.
So join me in meditating. Even if it’s just for five minutes. Life is showering with blessings. We have to open our eyes and see them. Every day is precious.