Just can't go without

"Never give up on something that you can’t go a day without thinking about." - Unknown

What can you not go a day without thinking about? Have you ever asked yourself this question? I haven't. But I thought it was the perfect question to share with you on gratitude Monday! Share three things you cannot go a day without thinking about in the comments section below. Here's my (slightly longer) list to get you started: 

 1. Prayer. I say prayers when I wake up in the morning to set the tone of my day, and before I sleep to help let go of everything that has been going on during the day. As a Baha'i, I also say one of the Baha'i obligatory prayers every day. I say healing prayers for friends who are unwell, for friends and family that are going through tough times and for protection before traveling. Prayer is my conversation with God, and that relationship is, from my perspective, my foundation for everything else I do with my life. 

2. My parents. I think about my parents every day. Sometimes because I am worried about them. Sometimes because they are driving me crazy. Sometimes because they are traveling or sick or preparing for a presentation or performance. Sometimes I just miss them. The regularity with which I think about them highlights how important it is to work on maintaining a healthy, happy relationship with them. 

3. My friends/community. There is not a single day that goes by that I do not think about my friends. They are pure sunshine in my life, and I cannot imagine my life without them. Maintaining my relationships with them is superbly important to me, so I spend a lot of time and energy hanging out with them, drinking tea with them, taking walks, having picnics, writing them emails, calling them, sending hand-written letters and packages, and even hopping on a jet and turning up unannounced every now and then just to keep them on their toes!

4. Writing/reading. I have a tendency to inhale books that borders on being obsessive. I often read between three and five books a week, cover to cover, and often stay up half the night because I am so engrossed in a book that I cannot put it down. I read at the breakfast table, during tea breaks, at coffee shops, on public transportation, in the bath, in the garden, while waiting to see the doctor/dentist, and in bed. I love good historical fiction and poetry best. I also love to write, and there is never a morning that I wake up without wondering what I will write that day (even when I do not actually write anything--though that is rare these days). I write in my journal. I write poetry. I write non-fiction, and I am slowly working on a fiction novel right now -- my first. I love how reading and writing enable me to enter a completely different world to the physical one I am currently living in, and how when I am in that world everything else ceases to exist--and I truly enjoy creating this experience for my own readers. I also love how poems and other forms of literature manage to touch the raw heart of truth in ways that are often not expressed when people speak to each other.

5. Home. I think about the places that are most deeply rooted in my heart every single day. Mainly Prince Edward Island and Cyprus. I love the land, the smells, the colour of the ocean/sea, the music, and the idiosyncrasies of the people and culture. I love these two places with a depth that I normally associate only with the people I am closest to. When my plane lands on either of these islands and I step out of the plane and inhale the air I literally feel my entire being relax. I experience more deeply and am somehow willing to be vulnerable in on these islands that I love so. I also think about my desire to build myself a home in a place that I love with my own hands every day. A place that will be my anchor and to which I can return from traveling around the world to find everything where I left it. I have moved so much that I have never really had the luxury of such a place, and I dream of the day when I might be able to establish such a place that I can call my own. 

6. Farming. I think about farming every day. I am at my absolute best when I am in rubber boots out in the middle of a field harvesting fresh fruit and vegetables. This ties in with the prayers. I pray about having my own land some day that I can farm. 

7. Love. It's true. Along with thoughts of home and building a farm/house come thoughts of partnership--sometime to build and share this life with. Someone with whom to create a family. I wonder who this person will be, where we will meet, and when! 

8. Service. I don't know how this ended up at the bottom of my list. It should have been up there with prayer and God and my parents! I think about serving my community a lot. I try to do something every day that is of service to those around me. Some days these things are bigger than other days, but most days I manage something. Being of service every day is something that will always be a goal in my life both because I like to know that I am contributing to the betterment of society, but also because I know that serving others helps me to grow and become a better version of myself. Increasing my capacity, you know?

I think I'll stop there. Give you a chance to share your three (or more, if you want!) things that you cannot go a day without thinking about!

Happy gratitude Monday, friends!