thank you

i am thankful for so many things.

i am thankful for the experiences i've had, and the ones that have yet to be.  i have a supportive family that loves me the best way that it can.  i have fantastic friends.  i live in luxurious surroundings: hot running water, a tub i can stretch out in, a queen-sized, comfy bed, my own spacious room, my own little art studio workspace, a toilet.

i have enough to eat, clean water to drink.  i have plenty of clothes (probably TOO many!) to keep me warm and to use as a form of self-expression.  i have access to health care, medicine, birth control.  i see a therapist who genuinely cares about my recovery, and who charges a reasonable rate.

i am thankful for crescent moons and for the sound of crickets during twilight.  i am thankful for the taste of tea and honey.  i am thankful for being able to feel a lover's touch on my skin, the soft fur of a cat against my cheek.  i am thankful for picking fresh herbs to put in my soup, for magenta roses that bloom in the sun.  i am thankful for the vast ocean and the patient trees that give me shade and play music in the wind.

i am grateful for my yoga practice, which helps me endure the suffering of human life.  i am grateful for smiling and laughter, for tears and sleep.  i am grateful for my dreams, which i can always remember bits and pieces of, and for my gifts and talents.  i am grateful for free time and leisure, for hard work and studying.  i am thankful for the choice to be single, married, divorced, dating.  i am thankful to be able to look people in the eyes and say, "I like who I am...at least most of the time.  And I'm learning to love myself all of the time."

i am thankful for my arms and legs, for my strength and grace.  i am thankful for my wisdom and for my sadness, for my passion and bliss.  i am thankful for my voice, for being able to use it to speak my Truth.  i am thankful for my right to vote, to be free and to pursue my version of Happiness--whatever that might be.

i am thankful for books and movies and for this illusion we call reality.  i am thankful for Art and Beauty and for the shadowy parts of myself that i am learning not to fear.  i am thankful that my heart, while it may break over and over again, has not yet turned stony or bitter.  i am thankful for being female, for having the gift of giving birth to new life.  i am thankful for my sensuality, my sexuality, my desires and my discipline.  i am thankful for my Spirit and the gentleness of my soul.

though i may bargain, plead and sob...though i may fight and blame and self-destruct...though i may ignore, manipulate and covet...there is nothing i cherish more than the life that i have been given.  i am doing all i can with what i have to become the greatest human being i can become...i am not perfect, and i am thankful to make mistakes and learn.

thank you, thank you, thank you.
thank you! thank you! thank you!

a thousand times: thank you for this life!



hari OM.