"Appreciation is the sacrament."
--Allen Ginsberg
"If the only prayer you say in your entire life is 'Thank you,' that would suffice."
--Meister Eckhart
"Be grateful to everyone."
--Buddhist mind-training slogan
This Christmas season
I want to give a lot
Spend a small fortune
On stamps
As I write by hand a gratitude a day
Three to 13 lines or sentences
To notice someone's gifts
And say so--
Her humor, compassion, benevolence
His mischief, fire, generosity--
To do this for people
Who aren't the usual suspects or the BFFs
To do this as a slow, calm meditation
When the culture's getting frenzied
To spend a few minutes a day doing this
As a joyful activity
To acknowledge these glorious and gracious people
Teachers and artists and avant-gardists
Actors and bodhisattvas
Animators and exhilarators
All these people who are --ta-daa--
"the light of the world"
Or my world anyway
The world of my beloveds
--from a writing practice with Brittany Accardi & Jenn Reyes Lay
10 a.m. Tuesday 20 November
Northwest Coffee
(under the not so subtle influence of a discussion two days before
With Nebu and Allison at Café Ventana)
Beautiful!
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