A Thing of Beauty

“Gratitude is not a passive response to something we have been given, gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without us….Gratitude is the understanding that many millions of things come together and live together and mesh together and breathe together in order for us to take even one more breath of air…that we are miraculously part of something, rather than nothing. Even if that something is temporarily pain or despair, we inhabit a living world, with real faces, real voices, laughter, the color blue, the green of the fields, the freshness of a cold wind, or the tawny hue of a winter landscape….Thanksgiving happens when our sense of presence meets all other presences.”

~From Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words © 2014 Many Rivers Press., by David Whyte

On this unusual Thanksgiving, I am working with wonderful educators who can smell summer vacation coming in New South Wales, Australia, rather than gathering with my family members in the chill of Colorado. I have rolled through the emotions of sadness and joy, and landed in presence. Sending love and wishes for well-being your way, across all distances.

Last night I got woke
by ocean waves
whipped up by wind
crashing, smashing
until the roar was more
powerful than sleep

Consciousness called.

And though I did not arise
I was lured and lifted
into the water itself
dropped into depths

The slap of singular waves
the tumult of shore
where division is emphasized
disappeared

Silence replaced roar.

I sensed the swell
the breathing undulation
of unity