Back on track

It is the first day of a new week, and I am getting back on track with my blog. I usually do a gratitude entry on Mondays. Here is what I am feeling grateful for on this chilly Monday night:

1. I managed to raise my tired body from bed before sunrise for a fourth day in a row to observe the Baha'i fast this morning. Since I was 15 I have never managed to make it through the entire 19 days of the Baha'i fast without getting sick. My body does not handle it well, no matter how much my heart desires it. Every day I am able to rise before dawn and eat something and pray, and make it through the day without the first symptoms of getting sick I feel incredibly grateful. Each day of this fast is SUCH a blessing.

2. I caught the bus on my first try this morning. I got to the bus stop literally one minute before it passed, and it dropped me off about five blocks from where I needed to be. I cannot tell you how blessed I felt to be driven downtown instead of having to walk this morning!

3. I began my first dog-walking job this morning with a sweet 13 year old tiny little dog who is the cutest. I have never walked a dog this tiny. I have to keep turning around to be sure she is still attached to the leash she is so light. For the time-being I will be walking her every morning at 8.30am and twice a week again in the afternoon at 4. Things have been incredibly tough lately, and the tiny income from this dog-walking is SUCH a blessing right now. Walking Chloe is not only going to put food on my table, but it also makes me smile because I have never seen a dog more excited to be going on a walk. She literally goes crazy when I arrive at the door!

4. I lost an earring in the snow this morning. One of my favourite earrings made of coral and turquoise. I backtracked, looking in the snow, and ran into a complete stranger out walking her dog who asked me what I was doing. A few minutes later this same woman came running back down the sidewalk -- she had found my earring. Blessed or what?

5. This evening one of my best friends met me for supper downtown. We had a simple but delicious meal together after not having eaten all day long, and then walked home together beneath a big, crisp black sky, trekking across fields of snow and over sheets of ice, each step our boots sinking deep down, leaving a trail of footprints across the crusty snow. In the distance the lights of Charlottetown looked like Christmas lights. There is something timeless about walking across snowy fields at night here. It makes me feel like I have gone back in time somehow. I stopped at Honeylyn's house for some water before continuing on home over ice-slicked sidewalks crusted with salt and flooded with the futuristic ghostly light of the streetlamps, my breath expanding and diffusing into the air ahead of me, my heart pumping in my chest, cheeks and nose cold. I had a great, joyful evening, and was thinking how thankful I am for strong legs that can carry me such long distances when I do not have access to a car to get around in.

6. My bed. I am truly grateful for a bed to rest in tonight, so that I can rise refreshed tomorrow to embrace my fifth day of the Baha'i fast.

And you, friends? What are you grateful for on this Monday?

Gratitude 7+

"I have heard thy cries and am conscious of thy tears. Remember that God is faithful and do not doubt this. Be patient, even though great calamities come upon thee. Fear not! Be firm in the path of the Lord, as a mountain unmoved, unchanging in thy steadfastness. God has made afflictions as a morning shower to His green pastures and as a wick for His lamp, whereby earth and heaven are illumined." -Baha'u'llah

I love this quote. I found it years ago and wrote it into the front of my prayer book, and I find myself flipping to it every now and then when I am struggling with something, or just need to remind myself that hard times are a blessing in disguise. 

This last week there have been many blessings that were not in disguise: 

1. I got to speak to one of my best friends back on Prince Edward Island. It had been a while since I last heard her voice, and catching up with her on the phone made me more than happy. The magnitude of my happiness was evident by the fact that I spent the following hour wandering around the house singing at the top of my lungs. :-) 

2. I had a creamy chai tea with one of my girlfriends on Friday afternoon. It was raining outside. We sat at the bar and caught up on each other's news. The place was bustling with people enjoying time with friends or reading the paper or a book instead of the usual tapping away at keyboards that is the norm Monday through Thursday. I love sipping tea on cool fall days in the company of a good friend, and the fact that I had an entire weekend ahead of me made it even better. 

3. I attended a devotional gathering Friday night with a few friends. It may sound tame, but there are few things I would rather do on a Friday night than get together with friends and read inspiring quotes from various religious and spiritual traditions, and then discuss them. It's like all the thoughts and concerns of the week fall away, and all that is left is the joy of being alive and connected to other human beings. After the devotional we all bundled up and wandered over to a local Thai restaurant where we sipped Thai iced tea and enjoyed full plates of steaming hot curry, sticky rice, and coconut soup. It was a great night of spiritual and physical nourishment, and excellent company. 

4. Saturday was the birth of Baha'u'llah, the Founder of the Baha'i faith. My community celebrated it at the home of a couple who love breakfast, so they invited us all over for a huge buffet breakfast followed by a lovely program of readings, prayers and music. My mom and I went together, which is something that I will not get to do always, so I am trying to enjoy sharing experiences like this with her as much as I can while I am here. 

5. Saturday afternoon I went to spend some time with my dear friends Jairo and Leanna, and their gorgeous (almost two year old) son Teo. Teo is one of the most musically inclined children I know, and as soon as I arrived he set me up with a miniature piano, handed his mother a trumpet, and settled down with his drum. The three of us jammed and danced for a long time, and the joy that our session brought to Teo filled the room with laughter. 

6. Sunday I spent most of the day at home hanging out, but in the afternoon my good friends Azadeh and Nabil came over and picked me up and we headed to their favourite coffee shop for hot drinks, a long chat about service, and a debate about whether where we live in the world really determines how happy we are (Azadeh said no. Nabil and said that it did. I said that I thought it could in certain circumstances). As the golden light of late afternoon and early evening filtered in the huge windows over us, our table, our white ceramic cups, Nabil's latest electronic device, and Azadeh's current book, I felt deeply content, and grateful for the long, lazy day of laughter, good conversation, and hot tea. 

7. Today I had to meet my mother down town to give her a ride to an appointment. I got there early, so I wandered into yet another coffee shop to wait. Sitting there sipping my hot chocolate, writing in my journal and people watching as every fashion statement, height, age and ethnic background walked in and out of the coffee shop, I felt grateful to live in a world that has so much diversity, and excitement for the day ahead -- the job application I am working on. The meeting I have on Wednesday in the Bay area. The women's devotional gathering that we will be having at our house this Wednesday evening. Another day on the farm on Thursday, my Ruhi study on Thursday afternoon and another devotional gathering on Friday. 

It is evening now. I made a big salad for dinner to go with my mother's salmon loaf and Persian rice. The lettuce in my salad is from the farm I volunteer on. I planted it with a group of kids who came to the farm on a field trip. It is incredibly beautiful. There is something deeply fulfilling about making a salad with lettuce that I planted with children and watched grow over the last few weeks. Each head looks like a blossoming flower. As I type this I am sipping chamomile lavender tea. I am looking forward to saying some prayers. To a good book. To drifting to sleep with the sound of my father composing a beautiful piece of music in the background. 

And you, friends? What are you feeling grateful for today?

The language of flowers

 

The sun is shining through my window as I write this. It is yet another clear blue hot sunny day here in California. I am sipping a hot cup of tea with milk and honey. The flowers in the photo above are ones I planted from seed, grew, and harvested from the youth garden at Soil Born Farm, where I volunteer. Over the last few weeks Guy has invited me to harvest vegetables and flowers to take home. There is something magical about flowers that you grow with your own hands. Flowers that you have seen in a garden, peering at you over the tomato vines, buzzing with feeding bees in the sunshine after the drip irrigation has gone off and everything smells sweet. I experience all of that when I look at this vase of flowers on the table.

I am started reading a novel late last night called The Language of Flowers: A Novel, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. I had seen a review of the book in the paper, and then last night I came out to dinner and there it was, sitting on my chair at the dinner table, a gift from my mother. After a weekend of working all day and half the night both Saturday and Sunday researching an article that is due to an editor on Wednesday, it was heavenly to be able to climb into bed last night with a new novel, especially one with such a gorgeous title.

I have been practicing gratitude lately. I keep thinking that I will forget, but every night before I fall asleep I lie in bed and come up with five things I was grateful for that day. Last night I was totally exhausted, and feeling slightly frustrated by how long the research for the article I am working on was taking me, so I was surprised when I managed to come up with my list relatively quickly (yes, sometimes I have to really think. Hard).

My list last night was:

1. The delicious supper of pasta and large, colourful salad that my parents prepared last night while I worked on my research.
2. The novel that my mom had sitting on my chair when I came out to join them for supper.
3. That I am another day closer to finishing this article I am working on, which is in a genre that I am realizing has taught me a lot about writing and editing, but is not bringing me as much joy as writing about food and drink or more creative fiction or non-fiction pieces. I am grateful that I have persisted in getting this article written even though it is has been a bit grueling.
4. The way the sun shone through the trees and dusted the back garden late yesterday afternoon when I wandered outside barefoot for a breath of fresh air, and to look at the sky for a while, instead of my computer screen.
5. My parents. Their never-ending love and support no matter what. 

I have been noticing that taking the time to be grateful is slowly but surely increasing my conscious awareness of the good things in my life. The light. Friends. My family. It is definitely making things shift. I am not sure how this will reverberate out into other areas of life, but I will keep you posted. For now however, I am going to sign off, enjoy the rest of my cuppa tea, and tune into my dear friend Ahava Shira's Monday afternoon radio show, Love in the Afternoon (1pm, every Monday).

I think I already know what one of my five things on today's list is going to be :-)

Have a great, gratitude-filled week friends!!