i love celebrating every breath with thanksgiving,,, breathing in… be thanks… breathing out… thanks be… a seamless circle of giving thanks i’ve been dwelling in for almost 9 years while occupying the abundance of infinite love and gratitude… today is also an important anniversary date for me of a pivotal event that happened 43 years ago of a wedding and a sacred vow of hieros gamos that has unfolded in such a different way bringing me in this moment to clean-sing, to water purification conducting me right into the heart of original blessing with a call to voice to all my relations thanksgiving for gracing this moment, this magical moment of devotion to a path with heart, a path of compassion, a path of practicing being ever more for (pro) giving… yes, in this moment, i open myself to being more and more for giving, first to myself and rippling out gifting with every breath to all that is, we co-create the most beautiful wave of rainbow light encircling the cosmos, an unbroken circle of peace and harmony, wedding the many into the one…

i pray that you received my telepathic messages of gratitude for you sent from the stillpoint of soulitude in deepest communion, common union with all that is… and, that you heard the echoes of our recitation at the fire ceremony of a Chinook blessing that has so graced this land and her beings forever…

~

We call upon the earth, our planet home, with its beautiful depths and soaring heights,

its vitality and abundance of life, and together we ask that it

Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the mountains, Saddle mountain and Wahkiakum mountain, the Willapa Hills, the summits of intense silence, and we ask that they:

Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the waters that rim the earth, the waters of

Our great river the I-a-gayte-imas, the waters of Willapa Bay,

And all of the waters the flowing [sic] our rivers and streams, the water that falls

Upon us, and we ask that they

Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the land which grows our food, the nurturing

Soil that sustains our lives, we ask that they

Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the forests, the great cedar trees reaching

Strongly to the sky  with earth in their roots and the heavens in their

Branches, cedar tree is the keeper of all

Knowledge, and we ask them to

Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon the creatures of the fields and forests and the

Seas, our brothers and sisters Lilu the Wolf, Emulak the elk,

And Mauich the Deer, Chak-cahk the Eagle, the great

Whales and the Sturgeon, and the Salmon people who share

Our Chinook waters

Teach us, and show us the Way.

We call upon all those who have lived on this earth, our

Ancestors and our friends, who dreamed the best for future

Generations, and upon whose lives our lives are built, and

With thanksgiving, we call upon them to

Teach us, and show us the Way.

And lastly, we call upon all that we hold most sacred, the

Presence and power of the Great Spirit

Which flows through all the Universe, to be with us to

Teach us, and show us the Way.

Delivered by Chinook Tribal Chief Gary Johnson in Chinook homelands, November 18, 2005.

Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues, but the parent of all others.

~ Cicero ~

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for everything that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

YES!

on this day of thanksgiving, which is also the eve of the USA holiday by the same name and a mere moon away from the celebration of seven years of occupying the abundance of infinite love and gratitude, every moment is simply that, a moment of gratitude for whatever is,… a very early morning phone call from a dear friend emanating joy, a message from another in sync in great stillness, excitement from another, a wandering in wonder partner, bon voyage from a siSTAR , eyes that are having a hard time seeing while going through a clean-sing process joined by a digestive system in purifying, a spontaneous connection with the newest of  soul friends echoing the love we all are, daily love fix with a furry little buddha, sauntering in cold rain, gathering with fractal family in a space of not knowing, bearing witness, taking the action of being a lotus blooming out of the mud through the grace of gratitude…

did you know these flowers, when surrounded by fire or suffering or another adversity become even more fragrant just as our light, our beauty awakens  in such moments and our compassionate heart shines through… thanks be that our inner light can never be extinguished no matter how dark the times feel… so, gaze into lotus flower, breathe in the sweetness and connect even more deeply in this moment with the lotus lightness of being are evermore…

being thankfulness with every breath is panacea… it has been said that if we could bottle gratitude, it would be the best selling pharmaceutical, since so many health benefits derive from its application and use… i’ve had several spontaneous remissions since beginning the practice of saying thank you with every breath…

may we all awaken to being conscious witnesses to this be here now moment and grateful participants in our one heart’s liberation, the blossoming of beauty suffering, bearing under, inspires…

thank you, thank you, thank you

another day of now november, another day of gratitude, i am so grateful to share the journey with you, anam caras, soul friends…

now, some words dedicated to all our relatives, the  lights shining across the cosmos the ones who change the if to when by serving the whole as beautiful mirrors, serving the whole as great soul…. thank you, thank you, thank you again and again…

If

If you can keep your head when all about you

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it…

[and, you must be an anam cara or a dog or both…]

~ Rudyard Kipling ~

( except for the last line in brackets )

thank you for shining brightly as we walk each other home…

Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues, but the parent of all others.

~ Cicero ~

as the celebration of Thanks giving approaches in the USA and i approach the 6th anniversary of living lucidly in the abundance of infinite love and gratitude, i’m contemplating thankfulness and being thankfulness with every breath… it has been said that if we could bottle gratitude, it would be the best selling pharmaceutical, since so many health benefits derive from its application and use… i’ve had several spontaneous remissions since beginning the practice of saying thank you with every breath…

may we all awaken to being conscious witnesses and grateful participants in the blossoming of beauty…