1. My body.
Not in the ways you might think. I am grateful for my body because it continues to carry on. My two legs continue to walk and will hopefully until my last days. I am grateful for my body’s ceaseless efforts in repair and maintenance and its commitment to me. Every time I start to “pick” on my body I tell myself to get in line and be thankful I have one that works as well as mine does!
2. My parents & family.
I am particularly grateful for my very unique upbringing, which always left me feeling like a black sheep in my life. I even felt like a black sheep IN my family… Nothing has changed and I wouldn’t want it too! The challenges of my childhood gave me enough resistance to grow against the grain and accept who I am. I can now see the beauty in its orchestration. I was also given the love I needed to bloom into who I am today, even if it didn’t feel like that at times.
3. People.
From all walks of life. The “nice” ones and the “mean” ones. I’m grateful for the mean ones because they’ve done the “dirty work” for me this life time. Without those encounters my true nature wouldn’t have started revealing itself. The nice ones because they help polish you back up again!
One of my favourite past times is to people watch. My Dedushka would go to the Central Markets, a food market place and he’d sit on his favourite bench with a couple friends and watch the people walk by. I felt sorry for the old folk because I thought they were lonely and maybe they were but from my own experience of people watching I’ve found it quite the meditation.
4. The Earth.
I like to think of the Earth as OUR mother. The mother of all mothers. The human race lives off her, we have forgotten that. To think anyone can truly own a piece of her or manipulate the resources we all share still boggles my mind. When I look from a different perspective, say if I were a star looking down at her I can see how the human race is in this selfish and chaotic mode. Scurrying around trying to develop and dominate. I am grateful for her for the same reasons as I am grateful for my body. She patiently carries on and continues to give. I appreciate how indigenous cultures value the Earth and see her for the living, breathing, being that she is.
5. The Cosmos.
Which includes the sun, stars, sky and ethers. I am grateful for the eternal blackness of space and the endless horizons of the Universe. I am a believer in astrology. I believe that the sun emits energy, yes? I also believe the moon affects growth cycles of plants and the tides of the oceans… This is nature being affected by the cosmos. If the sun and the moon have energy then why wouldn’t the other celestial bodies? As above, so below remember?? I’m one of those people who looks at the sky when I’m not sure what I’m doing or where I’m going. Those stars can’t tell you what to do or what will happen but the way they twinkle in their millions helps me realise how small I am and how humble humanity really is. It keeps my life in perspective.
6. My Soul.
I knew about this mysterious Soul when my mother pointed it out to me when I was a child. They were just words then but it led me on a life long Soul search. I refuse to believe I am just a body, I’ve tried that theory. I’ve had too many unusual experiences, some miraculous and some disturbing to put limitations on myself. I choose my beliefs and exercise my right to be a free-thinker. That’s the funny thing about the Soul, it doesn’t think like your mind does but it exists and somehow guides you amidst the mental turbulence.
7. Technology.
I am grateful for computers, digital cameras, airplanes and the internet. I’m also grateful for progression in medical science. The internet because it connects us quicker than the post can and for search engines like “Google” for allowing us to have information at our fingertips!
Digital cameras for making the average person good at photography and allowing us to capture moments because one day our memory might not. Airplanes because it makes travel a possibility and the medical science’s because it has helped so many people in critical situations, including myself. The natural way is my passion but without doubt medical science has advanced the quality of life for human kind.
That is all from me until the Muse visits again… until then I have uploaded some photography and a quote by George Washington Carver…
“When I touch that flower I am touching infinity. It existed long before there were human beings on this earth and will continue to exist for millions of years to come. Through the flower I talk to the Infinite, which is only a silent force. This is not a physical contact. It is not in the earthquake, wind, or fire. It is in the invisible world. It is that still small voice that calls up the fairies.”
Love