being thankful

A lot of how we live our lives in the west is the antithesis of 'simple'. The way our finances are conducted, our homes are paid, the bureaucracy of our governments, the demands of our careers - all drain us of energy whether we are always aware of it or not. Is there an attitude we can adopt, or even a way of living, that acknowledges these complexities but does not let them drain us? At times I can feel resentful that things demand so much time and energy...and then I dream of a tropical island full of nothingness, where I raise a healthy little brood of children, and me and my tropical princess feed them on fresh fish, coconuts, and eggs from a happy flock of hens...

Short of this, I want to live here and now, not simply suppressing reality but engaging with it and not feeling overwhelmed by it.

I think one important key to being able to do this is by being thankful. Too often I look past beauty and kindness and goodness all around me, and choose to see that which annoys me, or takes from me, or which is complicated. I don't want to just mindlessly speak thankful words in the hope that by some magical process of neurolinguistic programming I become a more grateful human being; I want to peel back the complicated layers of living and grasp all the good, simple, beautiful things that there are. That I have.

Simple things for which I am thankful...

Didgeridoo, coffee, bluberry danish on a Saturday morning at the market.

I will always be thankful for these blues.



Soul-restoring book-browsing at the market.