30 Days + of Gratitude ~ Day 9

1. I'm grateful for the deeper spiritual strength being awakened in me, through Grace, to release all attachments to the past.  I have committed to the discipline around this, and promise to keep bringing fun, imagination, and curiosity to the process.
2. I'm grateful for the good friend who gifted me a French Cooking series at the New School of Cooking starting in mid-January.  It's part of my Cross-Training plan, and I love to cook for friends, so this'll help me expand my range and depth.
3. I'm grateful to have dropped off all the donations at the Jeff Griffith Youth Center (part of the West Hollywood Gay & Lesbian Center) which gives these clothes to homeless gay kids they're helping to build lives of full-expression.  Going to the center and meeting some of the kids = huge bonus :)
4. I'm grateful for all of the music in my life.  It's mind-blowing how quickly a song, a note, a voice can immediately shift my experience of nearly anything and everything.  Big love to all of you courageous enough to make your music and share it with anyone who'll listen.  Right now, the change-makers on heavy rotation on my iPod ~ Dave Matthews, Tiesto, Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson, Michael Jackson, and Krishna Das.
5. I'm grateful to David Elliott for saying "Yes" over and over again, ever deeper.  Thank you for being present with every step and letting it be seen, heard, and felt.  I love you...

30 Days + of Gratitude ~ Day 8

1. I'm grateful for all of the mirrors in my life, predominantly through people showing up in my life...always giving me a deeper opportunity to recognize the one Reality or the illusions, conscious and unconscious, that I've held onto in some way, and which cover this one Reality.
2. I'm grateful for my car.  It's been so gracious with all of my agendas, routines, and all the time when I've pushed its limits in my own rushing around.  I promise to be more attentive to you going forward!
3. I'm grateful for Paulo Santo wood, and the strong resins cached in it's fibers.  It's smell reminds me to "let go" and Trust Life.
4. I'm grateful for becoming more and more coachable, teachable, and malleable.  The impulse to open in the middle of challenge has become and is emerging as stronger than the impulse to close and guard and protect.  
5. I'm grateful for all the opportunities to give!  Last night it arose in my closets and on my shelves, looking for all the items I haven't worn or interacted with in the last year and bagging them up to give away.   (***Bonus Gratitude tailgating on this last one:  Getting to the place I plan to donate everything and finding it had closed early.  I got to see my attachment to the act of giving...to get a lift from the giving, rather than to just give simply.  So I'm grateful that the Center was closed so I could see this and work with it before I drop it all off tomorrow.)

The picture above is of a former home-away-from-home for me over many years, known as Elixir.  I miss it like a person who has passed away.  It was a very special place for so many people, birthing more relationships, projects, creativity, businesses, heart-openings....so much.  Thank you to Elixir and the Garden that hosted you for so many years....may you receive new Caretakers/Stewards who see these gifts and make them available to the public once again.