Three Thanks A Week

CC image courtesy of flickr.com/photos/bunchedup

Last night I watched men and women dare gravity, the confines of their own bodies and move a crowd from gasps to laughter – and made it look easy.  Cirque du Soleil is one of my most favorite indulgences, and I am lucky to live where we can see them every year.

Today, I am thankful for things that keep me grounded.

1. The sense of awe and exhilaration I feel when watching the Cirque du Soliel performances.    Kooza was our most recent indulgence.
2. For being employed in a job that I truly enjoy and the chance to work with so many creatively brilliant people.
3. For my healthy eyesight, a simple thing that I too often take for granted.

For what are you thankful?

cc image courtesy of flickr.com/photos/happeningfish

“And yet, as I stand here tonight, what gives me the greatest hope of all is not the stone and marble that surrounds us today, but what fills the spaces in between. It is you – Americans of every race and region and station who came here because you believe in what this country can be and because you want to help us get there. It is the same thing that gave me hope from the day we began this campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago; a belief that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents; Latino, Asian, and Native American; black and white, gay and straight, disabled and not – then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process.This is what I believed, but you made this belief real. You proved once more that people who love this country can change it. And as I prepare to assume the presidency, yours are the voices I will take with me every day I walk into that Oval Office – the voices of men and women who have different stories but hold common hopes; who ask only for what was promised us as Americans – that we might make of our lives what we will and see our children climb higher than we did.“   – President-elect Barack Obama speech excerpt from the Lincoln Memorial, Jan 18.

A remarkable thing is the power of one person to seemingly single handedly change the course of time.    It is never, of course, only one person.

We often fixate on the face of the spokesperson but the difference between a true leader and an egomaniac is the authentic call to action – “This Inauguration is not about me, this is about all of us ...”

Today, my heart is piled high with gratitude for these things.

1. My personal power to make a positive change in this world, however so small.
2. For the gift of passion, of which I got a double dose.
3. For a President that, whatever your beliefs, has energized this country with hope and is not afraid to look everyone in the eye and challenge us to go beyond our own personal boundaries and serve others.

For what are you thankful?

CC imgage courtesy of flickr.com/photos/dawvon

Today, my heart is heaped with gratitude for these things.

1. The feeling you get, with your head tilted back staring at the sky into an array of fireworks.
2. For flights of fantasy, unleashed imagination, and the awakening that comes with suspending disbelief, even for a moment.
3. Family, extended, adopted, and real.

For what are you thankful?

CC image courtesy of flickr.com/photos/gadl/

A New Year has emerged.   The world is on fire – politically, financially, spiritually – and it demands that we pick up a new lens and view the world a little differently.

Find your lens, hold it close to your eye, breath out slowly and let the new light in.

Today, my heart is piled high with gratitude for these things.

1. The inspiration to see beyond my fears and make new things.
2. The calm winds of love and patience in the midst of my irritability storms.
3. Everyone that opened the freezer, stared in wistfully, but still left the 1/2 pint of Haagen-Dazs coffee ice cream untouched … just for me.

For what are you thankful?