Reality is relentless.  

It has its way with us.  

Period.  

Conversation over.  

But is the conversation really over?     

Maybe not.

How can we be grateful for the blessings that don’t seem like blessings?

Shouldn’t we wait and see, and then decide if we might deem them blessings?

There are moments, experiences that just flush our hearts open with gratitude and joy.

These are the obvious blessings.

What are they, in your world?

In my world, they are pink winter sunsets flying on, softening the snow, the undisputable smile on a dog walking down the block, who’s is obviously rocking on in life’s most fantastic moment—these burst my heart open.

Then there are the others—the losses, the changes, the beds cold and alone and emptied, the stealing, the shape-shifting of reality as we know it.

Are these blessings?

How might heartbreak or loss ever deserve our blessing?

Practice helps.

Practice helps!!

It doesn’t change reality—oh, if it did.

It does soften our grip, it loosens our breath, it helps the moment come and go.

I do not say any of this to offer us a doorway out of the human dilemma, out of the feelings.

I say these words, week after week, day after moment after breath, to give us the courage to keep going.

The way out of the moment?

It’s through the moment.

The way out of the feelings?

It’s through the feelings.

Gratitude is a practice that literally changes the chemistry of the brain.

~Aruni Futuronsky

may you dive in, dive down, and come up with the wild breath- alive and willing…..

inquiry for today~ what if you just didn’t change a thing today? just felt grateful for all of it?…..

way out as the way in

With this deep acceptance and loving awareness, step out of the judge’s court. Invite yourself to become quiet, at ease with your whole self, kind and thoughtful. With this accepting presence you will see yourself make better choices – not out of shame or self-hate, but because your loving heart teaches you how to care. The loving heart transforms the whole human dance. After you practice embracing your imperfections, you can choose other people to include in this practice. See and accept all their imperfections with a profound loving awareness. Take your time. Notice how this acceptance changes your conflicts and feelings for the better. Other people are learners, just as you are. And when you envision loving them with all their flaws, notice how your loving gaze and care might inspire the best in them. As Nelson Mandela says, “It never hurts to see the good in someone. They often act the better because of it.”

Love yourself. This is the essence. Then take your very human imperfections and make beauty anyway.

~Jack Kornfield