My Thanksgiving Prayer

As with most of us, I have so many things to be thankful for that I take for granted every day.

Too bad for us that it takes a holiday to remember

to be content and grateful for the blessings we have.

My gratitude is going to take a different turn today.

I have more blessings and love than I can fathom.

I have family and friends, a home, good kids 

I can eat this holiday.

I won't be hungry.

I wont be in pain.

I won't be cold.

That in itself is enough.

My gratitude today is for things like this...

I am thankful I have had my feelings hurt,

it gives me empathy.

I am thankful for loss,

it gives me perspective.

I am thankful for death,

it gives me reverence for life.

I am thankful for pain,

it makes me humble.

I am thankful for suffering,

it makes me more spiritual.

I am thankful for sickness,

it makes me appreciate health.

I am thankful for hatred,

it allows me to understand love.

I am thankful for war,

it makes me crave peace.

I am thankful for what is messy and chaotic,
it makes me seek calm.

I am grateful today that I have seen all kinds of ugly in this world,

for it makes the beauty more vibrant,

more important,

more sacred.

Yes, count your blessings today dear friends...

but thank your troubles too.

They have a purpose. 

They teach us to search  for OUR purpose.

It's all in how you look at it.

Happy Thanksgiving 2012

Sanity in Sweat

(This one's for you Emily!)

Yoga has become my Xanax.

Absolutely critical to this girl's sanity.

My family  has gone so far as to say

"Ummm...we like you so much better on yoga"

Nice.

But, it does make for easy leaving the house

when I say I am headed to a yoga class!

They're all like

"Go! Really! You don't want to be late! Go, go!"

Am I really that bad without it?

Apparently so.

I have said it here before

(and this isn't original by any means)

that my mind is a dangerous neighborhood,

and I shouldn't go in there alone.

In yoga...

hot yoga, to be exact,

there is no time to meander into that neighborhood.

Too much brain power is focused on 

remaining standing during balancing poses.

Stretching further, shifting focus,

 and breathing.

Breathing through discomfort.

 Not pain...that's a no go.

But discomfort is where you grow in yoga.

And the breath is 

critical to improving.

The breath is critical to everything.

Sounds positively torturous, I know.

But in getting so deep into yoga,

you get out of your head.

It's almost magic.

Left with nothing to do but focus on balancing on one foot,

the mind is both focused,

yet unbelievably freed.

These past two weeks I have only been able to get in two
yoga classes per week.
Trust me...the family is getting impatient.
They discreetly ask if I am going to yoga each day.

Yoga began as the exercise done to tire the body

prior to meditation.
To wear the body and the mind out so it could finally be
quiet.

Those early yogis were on to something,

and it is no wonder we seek the calm that comes from 

an hour and fifteen minutes of pure sweat and 

supine twists.

I know what you are thinking...
the same thing I used to think when runners said
they got a "high"...from running.
I was thinking "You're high"

Now I get it.
I get that no matter what your "thing" is,
yoga, running, knitting, reading
whatever it is that gets you out of your head
 and into your soul

That's the thing worth doing.

Us yoga junkies and running fanatics,
triathletes and bodybuilders,
girls in the knitting circle and eight book clubs...
we just found a different way to escape the mind
and find the peace.

One. Breath. At. A. Time.

Watch out big pharma!

How About Giving This Snowball A Chance In Hell

There is an old zen saying that goes something like this... Whatever you are for, strengthens you and whatever you are against, weakens you.

I had no intention of sitting down today to write.

Frankly, I cannot read any more political posts.

From the gloaters or the poor losers alike.

  I certainly don't want to add to the

collective eye-rolling occurring in front of computer screens everywhere,

but I just couldn't get this out of my head

and it had to come out somehow...

that is just how a writer's brain works.

My apologies in advance if you are at the edge of the cliff, but give it a read until the end...

You might have a change of heart.

As if we all weren't tired enough of the months (that felt like decades) of

really awful political ads and fear-mongering from both sides,

today we get to see people either melt down

or do the social media version of

"Na na na na na na!"

My children...

Time out.

Life. Goes. On.

Here is my challenge today.

However yesterday came out for you

(and please be reminded that I am sitting here, the wife of a candidate 

who lost a local election so I  do kind of get it...)

Sit with your good self and think about this...

What are you for?

Not what you are angry about.

Not what you think is going to happen to our great nation,

or state, county or city.

Not what mistakes have been made,

and how the other guy is going to mess things up.

Not how mad you are and how you got cheated and need revenge.

Nor how awesome it is to see that other guy lose,

and how vindicated you are that your guy won.

Don't give any more thought to lies that were told on either side.

Think instead today about this...

What are you for?

That which we are for strengthens us.

That which we are against weakens us.

Go out today. 

Make a little shift in that thinking brain of yours...

see what happens...

Really, what do we have to lose?

Consciously become  pro-peace, pro-freedom, 

 pro-love,  pro-happiness, pro-health,
pro-abundance,

pro-infinity 

Pro-all of us together.

I am no pacivist  nor misplaced hippie child, but I 

do believe that what we are doin' just ain't workin' 

and it can't hurt to try something a little bit different.

Advocating for instead of fighting against might really give

some good things a chance in our little corner of the world.

Like attracts like,

and the snowball grows and
starts to roll downhill,
building momentum,
gaining speed,
gaining good...