Whoever decided we should set aside time every year to pause and indulge in a little gratitude was really, really smart. Here is my annual list of a few of this year’s gifts.
I am grateful for how easy my life is and for knowing that life is so much more than ease.
I am grateful that practically the entire wealth of human knowledge is at our fingertips for the price of an Internet connection and that all the knowledge in the world is not worth as much as the smile of a child or an old friend.
I am grateful for moments of exquisite beauty and for the strange truth that, if we pay attention, the welling up of creation can be found even in those places we might usually consider least beautiful.
I am grateful for meals at fancy restaurants and for scrambled eggs on nights when I haven’t gone shopping.
I am grateful for all the ways to stay in touch with friends and family who are distant and for the times we gather in person.
I am grateful for times of high excitement and great good cheer and for times of quiet and rest.
I am grateful for old friends and those I’ve just met.
I am grateful that things pass away, that the seasons turn, that new life comes into being and that we are all, somehow, always both letting go and becoming new.
And of course I am grateful for chocolate.
Note: The blog and I will be on vacation next week. Happy Thanksgiving!
Being Finite 
Happy Thanksgiving, Rachel 🙂
Thanks, Ben! Have you imported the holiday to SA? On Nov 20, 2014 10:44 PM, “Being Finite” wrote:
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Rachel, this would make a lovely blessing of thanks at our meal next week. Would you consider reading/saying it before we eat?
Yeah, I’d be happy to.
Dear Rachel,
I like this one A LOT.
Thinking of you every time I receive BEING FINITE, and other times as well . . .
Did I ever send you a copy of my book? If not, would you read it if I did? :=)
And, if so, what is your mailing address?
See below.
Love, Bardwell
Thanks, Bardwell. It came out as a bit of non-dual consciousness practice, so right up your alley. You’ve been much on my mind lately, as a matter of fact, so perhaps you had something to do with it. 🙂
I bought your book from the Carleton College bookstore, and you signed it when I was in MN in January. I confess that I’m only on p. 10. At the moment my reading time is taken up with the Living School curriculum–Bonaventure, Teresa of Avila, Merton, Eckhart, and company–but I will one day return to Sorrow and Dignity.
Love to you,
Rachel
Love this. Thanks for all the ins and outs. And of course, chocolate eases the way to all gratitudes. : )