I Give Thanks For The Water

I woke up inspired this morning to write you this note. To share with you some recurring medicine in my life this week, and how it has filled me with gratitude.

Water.

Living off the grid is rad, and it’s an adventure. Being unused to three people using water we unexpectedly ran out, it was a huge reality check about the power of having water at your finger tips. Water is life. Lucky (well really preparedness) for us we didn’t really run out, we have a second cistern with 3000 gallons of rain water that had been frozen shut, so when daytime came we hatchet-ed our way in. I’ll spare you the details, but in short thanks to sunshine, team work, and boiled water from 3 gallon jugs we have water again and it only took a few hours. Magic. And deep gratitude.

That’s the loudest and fanciest water story from the past few days and yesterday I realized I had many this week. As I soaked in healing hot springs last night I was filled with such an understanding that WE ARE WATER. Most of our mass is water like 70% in the average adult. So I sang to the water to give thanks. This is my wee little phone recording of my honoring of water.

I Give Thanks to the Water

This thanksgiving I’m grateful for life, for incarnating, for taking an earth walk and the adventure that has ensued. My life with clean water, ease of travel, choice in work, options beyond measure is incredible, and privilege that I have worked hard to be grateful for instead of guilty so that I can use it to be part of changing and healing world. I am endlessly thankful for the teachers and support I have had that taught me to listen to even the pain as a signal towards healing, movement into peace, becoming the world I want.

I am all that I am.

I am grateful.

Here’s my TIP for the day is you want it.
It can be hard to be the person in the middle of tradition to invite mindfulness, and yet I have always had it well received. Offering to sing before we eat, sometimes even teaching a song call and response style or one that often goes over well in my experience is this, a bold request:

“I would love if we went around the table and each said something we are grateful for, how about we do that after we all get our food on our plates?” [or offer some other specific time.

Here’s the thing, you may have a tradition like this but sometimes we just think about it and can’t get up the nerve (happened to me many times, and people even kind of expect me to be the one to bring that). Maybe we do these things with our friends but not with our family, or maybe we do with our family and not our friends. Here’s my invitation: be bold, claim your wish and ask for it. No promises, but even at unlikely tables I have seen people awkwardly accept and then warmly participate and deeply appreciate the moment.

Here are just a few images of things that have warmed my heart recently.