Sep 302010
 

Etheric sunset clouds taken while riding Lily last week



My life is really quite perfect. I have nothing to complain about.

Why is it that we are so quick to see any small difficulty in our lives? And why is it so much easier and socially acceptable to share gripes and complaints than successes and joy? Are we afraid to make those around us feel bad by comparison? Will it feel like bragging?

All I have is this moment. I can think about the past and the future, but they are not what I have right now.

If I’m not okay with the now, what have I got?



Gratitude creates it’s own attitude. It can give you a new perspective, a new focus. I am going to use this day as my opportunity to see those things.


Take a few minutes today to create your own Thankful Thursday.

How:

  • Sit back, take a few deep breaths, and consider what you have to be thankful for. Listing three to five things is nice, but one will do.
  • Post about gratitude on your blog. If you don’t have your own blog, go ahead and write about what you are thankful for in the comments here instead.
  • If you blog, please link back here or leave a comment.
  • Feel free to tag other bloggers, if you like to do that, but it’s not necessary. This is not a meme that obligates you to do anything, but look for gratitude. Oh, and link back, and comment, that’s all I ask.

  • Visit these other blogs that often participate in Thankful Thursday:

  • Tired Dog Ranch
  • Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch
  • Earth Dancer Spanish Mustangs
  • The Pony Expression
  • From the Horse’s Back



  • Jul 012010
     

    Ah, Blueberries!

    Ah, Blueberries!

    Gratitude creates it’s own attitude. It can give you a new perspective, a new focus. I am going to use this day as my opportunity to see those things.


    I found this post today, that I started nearly a year ago. The text in green is all that I had written, next to the photo of my harvest. Yesterday, I was doing the very same thing. Gardens make us see that life comes full circle with the flow of the seasons.

    I don’t like the heat. I tend to stay inside if I can. This afternoon, I found myself out in the sun harvesting blueberries instead. There is nothing quite like fresh berries eaten off the bush. This year’s early crop is on the tart side, but the berries are large and plump. We have two bushes fruiting now, one is the largest and oldest. It was here when we moved in, maybe twelve years ago. We were so impressed with it’s lovely, red, fall foliage that more bushes were added the following year. We have added four more blueberry bushes this spring with more to be planted. At the end of this season, we will have one whole end of backyard edged in them.

    The other bush that is bearing early, is the smallest and new this year. Our yard has quite a few different varieties, so we have a long season to pick berries from small, sweet ones to larger, juicy ones. I like them all!

    Lately, I’ve been more and more grateful for simple things, like picking blueberries in the yard; leaning on Lily’s back, closing my eyes and just breathing with her; sharing moments with my family and friends; and smelling my freshly opened oil paints.

    I’ve been absent from my blog lately, as changes are afoot in my life. It is a year for shifts and mine seems to be moving right ahead. There may be a change coming in my web space, as I move to being less involved with my horses and more with my artwork. Stay tuned – I’ll let you all know what’s up, when I have it more figured out.

    Take a few minutes today to create your own Thankful Thursday.

    How:

  • Sit back, take a few deep breaths, and consider what you have to be thankful for. Listing three to five things is nice, but one will do.
  • Post about gratitude on your blog. If you don’t have your own blog, go ahead and write about what you are thankful for in the comments here instead.
  • If you blog, please link back here or leave a comment.
  • Feel free to tag other bloggers, if you like to do that, but it’s not necessary. This is not a meme that obligates you to do anything, but look for gratitude. Oh, and link back, and comment, that’s all I ask.

  • Visit these other blogs that often participate in Thankful Thursday:

  • Tired Dog Ranch
  • Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch
  • Earth Dancer Spanish Mustangs
  • The Pony Expression
  • From the Horse’s Back

  •  

    The more I watch Ted Talks, the more I like it. This particular talk is rather fascinating, including the idea that our social choices are tied to our genes. I can understand that eye color, height, hair texture and other physical attributes are genetic, but how we are in social networks? Really? It expands my idea of genetics … and the importance of social ties.

    Jan 262010
     

    And I mean true heartfelt positivity, not just acting it.

    I love this blog post.

    You horse (or dog or child or husband, friend, co-worker, etc.) can tell on some level whether you are authentic or not. Animals, especially horses, I find, pick up on this much more easily than us humans. They have less layers of societal stuff to get in the way. And they pay far more attention to our real intentions that we sometimes do ourselves. That’s what I find so wonderful about working with them.

     

    The Summer Day

    Who made the world?
    Who made the swan, and the black bear?
    Who made the grasshopper?
    This grasshopper, I mean-
    the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
    the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
    who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
    who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
    Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
    Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
    I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
    I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
    into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
    how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
    which is what I have been doing all day.
    Tell me, what else should I have done?
    Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
    Tell me, what is it you plan to do
    with your one wild and precious life?

    -Mary Oliver


    I plan to spend less time on blogging, facebook, twitter, message boards, etc. and more time on real life. I may post here occasionally, but likely even less than I have been. And I won’t be feeling obligated to do so. Just letting everyone know that the tangible world is calling me more than the bits that fly over wires and through the air.