GRATITUDE, excerpt by david whyte.

“Gratitude is not a passive response to something we have been given, gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without us. Gratitude is not necessarily something that is shown after the event, it is the deep, a-priori state of attention that shows we understand and are equal to the gifted nature of life.

Gratitude is the understanding that many millions of things come together and live together and mesh together and breathe together in order for us to take even one more breath of air, that the underlying gift of life and incarnation as a living, participating human being is a privilege; that we are miraculously, part of something, rather than nothing. Even if that something is temporarily pain or despair, we inhabit a living world, with real faces, real voices, laughter, the color blue, the green of the fields, the freshness of a cold wind, or the tawny hue of a winter landscape.”

holy cow. i’m full of this kind of gratitude. you have activated once again to help me reach a goal. thank you for your support–both financial and in kind—to help me raise $5000 to volunteer in india. because of you, it’s happened! and, it’s incredible! my heart is just…so full. 

thank you all and much much love and…gratitude,
meaghan