(not necessarily in that order)
I’m feeling so blessed! Yesterday’s sharing of some doubts and concerns immediately resulted in an outpouring of support and encouragement from friends far and near.
Having people in one’s corner — believing in you, praying for you, knowing that all will be well with you — makes all the difference in the world.
Thank you, friends! 💗
I am beyond thrilled to finally be able to share the finished video of “O Master”!
More than ninety singers participated in the Ananda World Brotherhood Virtual Choir… from Mumbai, New Delhi, Noida, and Pune (India); Tel Aviv (Israel); Milano (Italy); and California, Missouri, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington (USA).
The love and joy is palpable; devotees singing with hearts full of gratitude and devotion.
We’ll definitely be doing more of these!
Jai Guru! 💗
I finally was able to set aside a few hours this evening to read all my birthday greetings — on Facebook, on the Sevaka Order website, though beautiful e-cards and emails, and on Nextdoor.
What I really should do is transfer all the wonderful comments and sincere good wishes into some sort of book that I could dip into whenever I start to feel a little down or filled with doubt. There’s nothing like birthday wishes to make one feel loved!
Right now my heart feels like that rose looks (thanks to Jody Mori for the beautiful rose image)!
Thank you all!
You know the sign of a really great father? Look at how many times he’s been “adopted”!
I mean, my mother gave birth to two daughters — me and Cathy — but I long ago lost count of how many friends “adopted” our Dad to be their Dad as well!
Unconditional love. Unwavering support. My #1 fan. Generous to a fault (sometimes literally).
That’s my Dad.
I have so much love and gratitude for this man and I felt to share a few photos of him through the years. 💗
I’ve been reflecting on how huge and exciting small things feel these days.
This morning I made it to Master’s Market at the tail end of “Healthy Senior Shopping” hours. This was the first time I actually browsed the aisles and shopped since we started self-isolating in mid-March!
Small but huge.
We’ve been out of our usual hand soap refill for some time. What made it worse is that the last time (I thought) I purchased it, instead of the gel I accidentally picked up the watery liquid soap for foaming dispensers. So, after not being able to find it anywhere for weeks, the other day it was in stock at Target, so I ordered it, and it arrived yesterday.
Small but huge.
A community resident did a Costco run today and was able to buy us a large container of spring mix — yay! And when I went to pick it up I was able to say hello (masked and from a distance, of course) to several friend/neighbors I hadn’t seen in almost six weeks.
Small but HUGE.
Thank you, God, for blessings small but huge.😄
Amen.💕
Feeling so much gratitude for the clarity and wisdom of Dr Peter, Ananda Village’s resident physician, as we seek the balance between under-reacting and over-reacting. Also feeling so grateful to have so much support and so many resources for dealing with this challenging time. Thank you, God!
I can’t find words to express how grateful I am for this life and my spiritual path. “Thank you” will have to do. 💖
This idea seems to be catching on with a number of my friends. Which is great because I might have forgotten about it otherwise! I’ll be looking for my jar tomorrow. Wanna join me?
I don’t “get” to really write because it’s so late, so I’ll share this incredibly lovely video instead. It’s narrated by Brother David Steindl-Rast, who I feel is a real discovery; also happy to have discovered his Network for Grateful Living.
Back in October — irritated by my first sighting of Christmas merchandise, weeks before Halloween even(!) — I was reminded of a Sunday talk I heard at my Unity church in San Francisco, way back in the early 1990’s.
The minister talked about how much she appreciated the fact that Nordstrom made a point of waiting until after Thanksgiving to put up their store Christmas tree and other decorations. As she pointed out, Thanksgiving (gratitude) comes before Christmas (receiving).
The importance of her insight has stayed with me over the decades: forgetting or belittling the gratitude part and becoming overly focused on the receiving (or getting) part is a recipe for disaster — for us as individuals and also as a society.
We see it happening a little bit more every year, as the Christmas decorations go up earlier and earlier in order to encourage people to buy more, buy sooner, buy faster! Get, get, get! But what about first slowing down and remembering to give thanks for what you’ve already got?
I’m not big on shopping; in fact, I’m pretty sure the last time I was in a Nordstrom was to play a gig back in my days as a freelance flutist. But if I were to need to shop in a department store, I would want to give Nordstrom my business, because I so very much appreciate that they’re still sticking to their guns all these years later!
I googled it because I was curious and discovered that in its more than 100-year history, Nordstrom has never decorated before Thanksgiving. And the store has received widespread support on social media about this, with consumers praising Nordstrom for fighting the “Christmas creep.”
Now that’s something I can heartily endorse!