Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a seemingly appropriate time to reflect on giving thanks... and I have so much for which I'm thankful. The list could surely go on to infinity, so I'll just touch the highlights for the last month. In particular, the intense experience of having recently undergone emergency surgery for internal bleeding, while temporarily removing capacities/abilities I normally have, provided a wide window for increasing my sense of gratitude.

This month I am so grateful for:

beautiful, vivid sunsets out my back window
rain and the green green grass it produces
autumn colors, especially in the vineyards in Napa
the sound of ocean waves crashing, heard from my street and kitchen window
live music
books and movies
delicious food and an enjoyment of cooking

for having enough to eat, and a renewed appetite for food
having a roof over my head, and my own bed in which to sleep
having a job that I enjoy, especially in the current state of the economy

for a competent surgeon
pain medication and the advances of Western medicine
and living to see another day!
bodily intuition
a high tolerance for pain, and the strength of knowing that only that which profiteth me shall befall me
for compassionate nurses
a hospital room with just one patient bed and a fold-out chair for my beloved to sleep in
for the power of pain to bring unity, compassion, patience, thanksgiving and love
for the miraculous power of the body to heal

for laughter, and the ability to laugh
the ability to cough
the ability to sit up
the ability to pee by myself (and many more like this)
the ability to walk
the increasing ability to stretch again

for prayer and positive healing energy (please keep it coming!)
for spiritual growth

the love and support of dear friends, new and old
instant communications technologies that put me in touch with loved ones around the world
having such a loving, kind, generous, supportive, accommodating, open-spirited, and accepting family

and, most of all,
for having found someone who feels like my soul mate
for his constancy and devotion
his strength of character and ability to help calm and ground me in the most difficult of times
his love, compassion, sweetness, goodness, reason, nurturing and support...
(this sub-list could go on for infinity)

I have so much for which to be thankful.

Love and Thanksgiving

In the past month I learned that an attitude of thankfulness increases the outpouring of love. I observed that I felt a greater spirit of love towards those people for whom I felt a sense of thankfulness; conversely, when judgments or other qualities of the lower self impeded my ability to be thankful for another person, loving also lacked. It goes the other way too: love seems conducive to thankfulness.

Are all virtues foundations for other virtues? Can one ever really be separated from another?

Pride and Thanksgiving

"Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves." -Henry Ward Beecher