Gratitude Friday

I've decided to take part in Nolwenn's Gratitude Friday ritual.  As I sat here tonight watching The Big Bang Theory and thinking about what I would write I thought about what a magical feeling week it has been.  And my eyes filled up with tears when I thought about all the amazing people (new and old) that I had the privilege to interact with this week.  I've been looking around my apartment wondering what am I grateful for only to realize nothing I'm really grateful for is tangible.  I am grateful for:

1.  Eslocura's generosity for the beautiful Gift of Jewels presents of home decorations and the journal she sent to me.  You can see two of her presents above:  Cherish and Breathe.  I put them at my entranceway to remind myself of them each time I venture out into the world.  I'm sure at some point they will move onto my desk as I continue to shed the cocoon.  

2.  French Fry's daily presence in my life.  She sent the pretty bag she sewed (pictured above).  It is handy, colorful and much more fun to carry around than my boring black purse or some ugly tote bag.  :)  I'm excited to see her soon.

3.  An extra hour of time I had this week to prepare for a friend's visit.  Sometimes when I have a limited amount of time and am under pressure I get more things done than when I have had months to take care of something and haven't.  

4.  Long-time friends.  I know not everyone has these.  I have come to see I have many people in my life who care about me.  

5.  Warmth I feel at night when I go to sleep from my comforter.  I could sleep in it forever. 

6.  Red's presence in my life.  Our friendship has an ethereal quality to it I cannot put into words.  We met 8 years ago off a sublet ad on Craiglist when I had picked up and moved to this city not really knowing anyone.  To believe it was not some form of fate that we met would be lunacy.  She is a witness to my story and I to hers.  We've sewn each other into our lives permanently.  Just writing this makes me tear up.

7.  FUN!  Cooking with a friend again.  Surprising a friend before her birthday with presents!  And for the fun of birthday cakes, candles, and YouTube versions of happy birthday sung in different languages.

8.  Women who do not shrink from the real intimacy in friendship.  It can be challenging sometimes, but they stick it out with me.

9.  Jamie Ridler.  To me Jamie exudes happiness, faith in the world, magic, joy and laughter.

10.  Belief in this quiet mission I've been on.  Others around me may not understand it, but I've been determined to continue down this path I've been on for 4 months with class.  Something within me has grounded me to stick it out.  And by trusting this I have grown as a person.  

11.  Circe's Circle.  As a few people have pointed out I probably would not have been in the place to enroll here had I not undertaken and stuck out my class (#10).  And now I come to Circe's Circle and the only judgment I feel is from myself.  I left the call yesterday feeling an ethereal and magical quality to our work there.  The women I have met inspire quiet whispers within...a little too sacred to discuss right now in this space.

12.  Old goals that can still be accomplished.  Did I tell you what happened this week?  (No, because I need to start posting daily instead of these long behemoth posts.)  I took a dance class yesterday!!!  After 8 years of thinking Dance brings me joy I should take a class...I finally got off my butt and went and took a Bollywood Dance Class downtown.  It was fun and a little hard, but I moved my body for 40 minutes and sang along as we learned the choreography to Desi Girl.  You can see the dance we did at 4:35 on this video.  The beginning is all the instruction for the last part of the dance.  Yes it was cheesy, but who cares.  It was fun!

13.  The ability to reflect on the past without being stuck in it.

14.  Music and its ability to motivate me.  This week I'm listening to Penn Masala and my Mixin Sixin Cds (more on that in a later post).  How can you sit still when you hear this stuff?  Even if I'm sitting at my desk or in bed half of my body starts moving!

15.  The ability to screw up and then improve.

16.  The opportunity to ask questions.

17.  To get to try again tomorrow.

18.  Friends allowing me to practice my coaching on them and then providing me with feedback.  

19.  Opportunity to get fresh produce from farms and try new things I've never eaten before.  This week it was Jerusalem Artichokes.  They taste smoky and are a pain in the butt to clean.  But I made them with imli (tamarind) and garam masala, turmeric, and other Indian spices.

20.  Magic.  Weird Netflix incident that now sees a dance DVD coming my way which I don't think was at the top of my Queue, a surprise email from a classmate who I don't know much and then phone call from her seeking my thoughts and feedback and some astute observations on her part of what is happening in class.

21.  Getting to see this window on the way to and from dance class yesterday.  I stopped and stood there staring at it wishing so much I had a camera to take a photo and share on my blog.  These images don't adequately capture how magical it looked.

22.  Honoring myself and not responding in the old ways to those people who drain me.  I listened twice this week when it happened and changed my behavior in how I handled the situation.  There is only so much of me and there are many things I want to do.  I need that energy for myself.