Recent Gratitudes First

Grats I didn't post, from London, because internet was down.

I am grateful:

1. That I’ll have time to honor Good Friday before seeing L
2. That I had such a wonderful week (almost 9 days) in London.
3. That I arrived here safely
4. St. Paul’s Cathedral
5. My earrings
6. My coasters
7. Postcards
8. And that I sent one to M
9. And one to Je
10. And one to Ji
11. And one to L
12. And one to my mother
13. And that I called my mother!
14. That she sounded GREAT!
15. And that she was so excited to hear from me
16. That I emailed back and forth with L a lot
17. And eventually got to call him
18. A lot
19. That one night, hanging up, he said, “Love you Dear.” That was so nice
20. That although I’m not jewish, I’m getting to go to a seder tonight
21. With L
22. And Jo
23. And S
24. And others
25. And that S, whose seder it is, is making sure I only have to taste VEGAN things! SO nice of him!
26. My retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh
27. The Orientation talk about self-care
28. The sitting meditation sessions at our center
29. The silent meals
30. And they were nutritious
31. And a BIT of stuff even tasted goo too: )
32. Last Saturday in Trafalgar Square
33. “Sit in peace.” With Thich Nhat Hanh and the monastics
34. That the monks and nuns have gotten to know me
35. The words one of the retreatant shared from her talk on the stage. That at work (teaching special needs kids?) she asks herself before taking an action: “What would love do?”
36. That I have incorporated that into my life now.
37. That I’ve tried (albeit not successfully yet: ) to explain this to L.
38. That I’ve been reading THN’s book, “Fidelity.”
39. And his book, “Love.”
40. The special 3 women I met on the retreat.
41. And more.
42. The TNH calligraphies I bought!
43. That although I OVERSPENT: ( AND made THREE BIG mistakes that are costing me A LOT(!), I will manage to afford this trip. I am very lucky.
44. That J went to my house to pick up something (with my permission) and noticed I had forgotten to take out the garbage! And he took it out! Imagine if it had sat there for 11 days!
45. That I’m sitting at Heathrow no.
46. And have done some sitting med. And some walking med. Every day since retreat so far (it is morning now, so have only so far done sitting today)
47. That finally – FINALLY – LAST NIGHT, I had a great meal in London! Yay! I am Italian; all 4 of my grandparents came from Italy; I know Italian food; this was the best Italian dish I have EVER had! Kind of makes up for the rest of the 8 days with food I didn’t like: )
48. St. Paul’s Cathedral – my tour
49. The Tower – my tour
50. Standing in the spot where poor Anne Boleyn was beheaded. This was solemn to me.
51. And little Lady Jane Grey, same
52. And poor little Catherine Howard, same
53. That I’m being much more mindful now!
54. That I went to Kensington Palace, tour
55. And took those two tour buses all around
56. And took the 11 hour Windsor, Bath, Stonehenge tour
57. That I found my way back to the two women and thus the tour bus after being sort of lost in Bath
58. That I saw Jane Seymour’s beautiful castle!
59. And the River Thames
60. And London is so clean and white
61. And it turns out it’s extra white, because they’ve been washing all the limestone in prep for the Olympics
62. That there is so much sky. Not all the skyscrapers like Manhattan.
63. That the people were SO lovely
64. And SO welcoming to me
65. And kind
66. And helpful
67. I got kisses blown to me
68. I got hugged and kissed – the only one out of the 55 of us, but our tour director
69. I got called My Love
70. And Darling
71. And Honey
72. Even when others weren’t being called those things
73. At various places
74. That I bought a few wonderful things for myself
75. And a wonderful thing for L.
76. And a wonderful thing for Jo
77. And a wonderful thing for S
78. And something nice for M
79. That I passed by Starbucks and Subway and the other one, I forget which, to get to a little British place that first breakfast time
80. And had beans on wh wh toast
81. And wound up having it for 2 more breakfasts: )
82. That I didn’t pig out
83. That I have prayed
84. That I had the meltdown last Sunday.
85. Because if I hadn’t have had it, Mi wouldn’t have arranged for me to have a consult with a sister,
86. And that sister wound up helping, not only my meltdown, but my life!
87. I am rooted in mother Earth.
88. I am a child of Mother Earth
89. I can connect to her
90. I can hug a tree to connect even more easily
91. I can place my worries on her and not burden or pollute her
92. And she will transform them
93. And I can care for my own sufferings
94. And this will help transform them too (along with sitting and walking meditation)
95. The 2 amazing Deep Relaxation sessions
96. And the short but wonderful Touch the Earth
97. That I sat about 1 meter and 4 inches from TNH the whole time he sipped his tea
98. That we had walking meditation with him
99. And I was the closest person to him
100. And we had it again!
101. And I stayed back, to give others a chance
102. That this seemed more intimate. Because instead of the 1000 – 1100 people I’m used to at these retreats, there were about 260 of us! (Numbers varied depending on who said it on what day).
103. That I now say beautiful words before eating. Along these lines: “This food is a gift of the entire universe. Mother Earth and her soil. The sky, clouds, raindrops, sun, air. May I eat in in gratitude for all the people it took to get it to me. Especially the farmers. May I eat it in moderation, so as to help reverse the process of global warming. May I eat it in JOY. May I see the cloud in my food.