Gratitude 178: Endless opportunity to renew and improve, AKA Mussar

Rosh Hoshannah is here! The new year brings with it a time of reflection and commitment to improving our lives, improving our character, improving the world around us. It is a season of asking forgiveness for the times in the past year when we have failed in our efforts to be better people or failures to increase the health of the world around us. This is a time of celebrating possibilities that lie ahead of us and of embracing that which is holy and life enhancing. Today I bake the bread that we will enjoy with the apples and honey, symbolic of our hopes for a happy, sweet, healthy, and prosperous new year. Rosh Hoshannah reminds me that as long as I have breath in me, I have opportunity to renew my spirit, rejuvenate my energy, improve my character, and contribute to the mending of what is broken in this world (tikkun olam). So, on this, the eve of Rosh Hoshannah, I am grateful for endless opportunity to renew and improve in every way imaginable! L’Shana Tovah!

Gratitude 177: The joy of Birding

It’s late at night (oops…early morning) and there are few words left for me to say on this day other than I love to watch birds. I love to photograph birds. This is a mindful, restful hobby and I urge you to give it a try. I am grateful for the hobby of birding, or birdwatching as many say.

Good night and sweet dreams.

Gratitude 176: Rain

It’s been a while since I posted here but that does not indicate a lack of gratitude. The reality is I have been swamped with work and have found it difficult to carve out time to blog on a regular schedule. Even so, I continue to live a grateful life and the result is that life continues to be full and vibrant as ever. Tonight I decided to take a few moments and reflect on what that means, to live a life of gratitude. Living thankfully does not mean that rain will never fall, nor does it mean that storm clouds will never interfere with our vision. It simply and profoundly means to me that I am grateful for life whatever life has in store for me. I am grateful for every breath I take, every flower or blade of grass I see, for every person who crosses my path. I am grateful for the lessons learned and those yet to be grasped. I am grateful for the lives and influences of those whom I have lost along the way and for those who have yet to enter my world. I find that living a life of gratitude opens up life to richness that cannot be measured. Last week as I walked along a path after a summer rain I was struck with the beauty of raindrops on leaves and grass along the trail. Even though rain can often created dreary days, there is beauty in the the notion that earth — and life — is being nurtured and thirsts quenched. After the rain colors are more vivid, aromas waft with more intensity, and even the sounds in the air resound with more clarity. Rains cleanse, refresh and renew. There’s a message in the rain, literally and figuratively. Yes, I am grateful for rain.