Gratitude

November 24, 2016
Thanksgiving

The biggest challenge with a gratitude practice is being grateful for everything---the good and the bad, the positive and the negative, and the light and the dark. Gratitude is being aware and thankful for whatever is right in this moment.

     Gratitude arises from paying attention , from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within us and with out us.--David Whyte

Those words were read at our Thanksgiving table tonight by our friend and neighbor Jim. This year, we had a block party Thanksgiving and had so much fun. A lot of us were not traveling for the holiday nor had family coming to see us, so we threw our own turkey party.

We could of viewed a Thanksgiving without our children or any family around us as one giant downer. But we didn't. We had a great time with the people we see everyday from just living where we live. One neighbor, who has a large, lovely home, hosted. Great, no mess for me to clean up. Everybody brought a dish. Another positive, no one had to spend the whole day cooking an entire meal. There was lots of laughter and little drama, except for the dogs battling for a piece of the turkey that never dropped.

And out of this Thanksgiving holiday comes my intention to be grateful for ALL of it, because without the dark, why we would be so appreciative of the light?

 ELECTION  ECHOES

November 27, 2016

So what about Trump's election can I be grateful for? Well, for one thing it definitely woke me up.  Not like an alarm clock, but more like a freakin' four-alarm fire. Thank you,  Donald, for prompting me to take to the streets. Seriously, what it has done is inquire about why this country would elect someone who ran a hateful campaign and sees no problem combining the White House with Trump tower. I listen to others closely, trying to see and hear different perspectives.

There is my friend Natasha from Moscow. She's lived in this country for 15 years and is a citizen but has a thick Russian accent. Really thick. A deep-seated cynicism developed from growing up in Russia. "You wouldn't believe the shit I have seen," she says. "Here's what we say. Funeral or wedding, what's the difference. It's up to you to have fun."

She jabs a finger at my refrigerator magnet shrine that a photo of Hillary and a caption reading "I do believe in my lifetime I will see a woman president." I replied that she lost. Natasha gives me a withering look and tells me Democrats have a big problem, that the country is all red except the tiny blue slivers on the ends.

"What did they expect? Bushes, Clintons, Bushes, Clintons. Same people always in power. Trump's not a good guy but least he's not a Clinton or a Bush," she said. "Not so different than Russia."

She may have a point. Of course, I said there was a difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.  And there was a difference between Russia and America. And that is when I realized I still believed in American exceptionalism; despite this election, despite Donald Trump ascending the presidency legally and despite the hate unleashed.