After a few tough years questioning heaven with a WHY ME, I am turning my awareness back to the earth to cultivate gratitude for the bounty I live within. Fresh air and water, abundance of love, with opportunity to grow and learn in multiple directions. Gifts. Sometimes it takes a bit of slowing down to notice what is right in front of our cloudy vision, but as we do the veil lifts just enough so the world appears wondrous. This is a lesson many garner with grace and ease, but I’ve come kicking toward these fine appreciations. I’m an immediate type of gal, as in I want what I want immediately. Like Spring. Or unions of sorts. Now. This day. And in that racy bustle I often ignore what has presented itself. Those presents appearing daily. Like sunlight making itself faintly felt despite the cloud cover. While I swim children’s laughter breaking through the routine. A fat crow on a bare branch facing the stiff wind outside my window. A friend letting me know a fabulous new plan, and yes, she wants me in on it. A upcoming luncheon date with an elderly Aunt who will sound, perhaps just for a few seconds, like my mother. Jasmine. Period. Everything about this sublime fragrance graciously filling your every breath is a magical gift. People who I hardly know who rise early and say, text me when you wake up and we can hike. Food. Fresh and local and organically grown in small farms. Glorious combinations of flavors exploding into savory delight. All of it. The glass is always more than half full. It’s overflowing. What will it take for you to see?

On my recent trip to Los Angeles the sunshine was my first gift. That light. Watching the golden orb spill into the ocean and pink the horizon with my grown up children standing along side: joy. The bouquet of roses my daughter arranged for my visit and the farmer’s market oranges fresh from the grower’s hand, all enlivening my senses with their fragrant sweetness. One can travel anywhere and only fixate on traffic or delay, especially in a city like LA, but why not put all that attention on the little presents in your presence?

Your own actions can certainly help foster this awareness: my local yoga studio brought Tibetan Singing bowls into the space, to invoke a deeper state of relaxation and meditation as we slowly moved through the restorative poses. Certainly I often crave aerobic activities, but come Sunday, reflection can lift one to intense inner states. Practicing yoga with regularity is a gift I can give myself. Like swimming. Walking. Moving muscles every day. Don’t get me started on these bodies we were gifted. Just use yours as best you can.

As day shifts to night, that quiet space, blue and still, is the earth’s cue that it’s time to exhale. Let go. Ground your energy into gratitude for all. Rest, and congratulate yourself for a job well done. You gave it your best shot. Were your best self today. Say thanks. Remember this moment when fear ruffles your feathers, when disappointment grabs your toe, when living is hard.