Thank you for awareness of waves and ocean. Thank you for awareness of feelings and being.

Thank you for living proof all around and within us that transformation is possible.

Thank you for right consumption.

Thank you for when guilt and worry dissolve into self acceptance without judgement.

Thank you for when guilt and worry dissolve into neutral curiosity that nourishes healing.

Thank you for when we treat ourselves as gently as we treat children.

Thank you for how small and easily resolved so many “big mistakes” are once we strip them of the negative commentary that gets piled on top of them (the second, third, fourth, fifth…arrows).

Thank you for unexpected role models.

Thank you for how special it feels to hear words from a heart.

Thank you for gentle voices that reveal the disposition of their owners.

Thank you for generous hearts.

Thank you for open minds.

Thank you for how good it feels to share.

Thank you for moments when reality is better than a dream.

Thank you for natural born caregivers.

Thank you for quiet strength.

Thank you for pictures of friends far away.

Thank you for gifts from hours spent daily trying (not always with success) to have a genuine voice in a language I love to hear but that’s less natural for me to speak.

Thank you for a little break to give and get rest.

Thank you for hope to find a new language that I will be able to speak with greater ease and less confusion.

Thank you for the promise of good nights’ sleep after weeks of sleep deprivation.

Thank you for the most beautiful gifts.

Thank you for the nascent ability to set boundaries for my wellbeing despite fear of rejection for not doing things the way I assume other people want them done.

Thank you for the determination to let go of unhealthy attachment, prompted in part by a history of chasing one-sided dreams.

Thank you for the lightness in the decision to learn from the past.

Thank you for trust in kind hearts and adventuresome futures.

Thank you for how hard it is to feel lonely these days.

Thank you for how hard it is to stay sad for too long these days. Even though there is so much to be sad about, there is a lot to be grateful for, too.

Thank you for the feeling of being connected with life and with what some of us call God. (Can I get a witness!)

Thank you for the good fortune that we cannot return to how things used to be. Thank you for awareness of problems with old ways, of opportunity for new ways to be even better. Take, for instance, our habitual dependence on fossil fuels and animal agriculture. We could pine for the thrill and ease of past lifestyles. Or we could envision how beautiful, clean, happy, and safe it will be when we run our lives with the right kinds of fuels.

Thank you for Rumi’s poem, Thinking and the Heart’s Mystical Way. Thank you also for Cleansing Conflict, Duck Wisdom, Paradox, and Talking and God’s Love of Variety. Thank you for so many more I haven’t yet read.

Thank you for insights landing after the fourth or fifth reading.

Thank you for Jay Shetty’s quote on compassion (even though the word “advanced” sits uneasy with me): “I think compassion is not expecting people to be more advanced than they are.”

Thank you for kabocha taquitos. Thank you for the color inside a kabocha.

Thank you for a sweet and sassy grammy. Thank you for her only prayer request apparently answered. (The one selfish petition was that her death would come in sleep.) Thank you for her sparkly blue eyes. Thank you for her sparkly blue tricycle with the big basket on the back. Thank you for her motorcycle toots. Thank you for the endless packs of gum that gave her a minty aura even when she wasn’t chewing. Thank you for her teaching me the words turd and sexy. Thank you for the smothering hugs. Thank you for adults who treat children with kindness. Thank you for honest, simple folks living true to their values.

Thank you for simple living with complex thinking.

Thank you for all the waves on my last ride.

Thank you for nights with decent sleep.

Thank you for the feeling that it’s safe to go outside.

Thank you for longing.

Thank you for vegan enchiladas.

Thank you for virtual game nights with the ladies.

Thank you for the lonelier times of my life (partying in NYC comes to mind) because they showed me the value of kindness, friends, and family.

Thank you for healthy bodies performing magic every second.

Thank you for folks who think in gray and rainbow instead of just in black and white.

Thank you for documentaries that are educational and inspirational at once.

Thank you for Mr. Rogers.

Thank you for the unconventional (intercontinental) relationship of Calvin and DB, and for a family that seems free of judgement, full of acceptance.

Thank you for proactive, self-assured women like DB.

Thank you for men who respect women and women who respect men.

Thank you for adults who respect children.

Thank you for self-aware people using the term “non-human animals” to describe other creatures. Thank you for their acknowledgement that we’re animals too.

Thank you for the saying about providence aligning in our favor when we make difficult decisions that we feel to be right.

Thank you for how providence has aligned in my favor on rare moments when I’ve made a bold step in the direction that called me, like when I adopted a plant-based diet. (It wasn’t so difficult as I’d feared. It improved my health contrary to my expectation that the opposite would happen.)

Thank you for cooler mornings.

Thank you for shea butter.

Thank you for friends from CAT who are still in touch.

Thank you for bamboo floss.

Thank you for kitchen sounds.

Thank you for the vivid mundane memories that flash in my mind for no apparent reason.

Thank you for cashew cream.

Thank you for Sundaying on Sundays.

Thank you for happy secrets.

Thank you for ends to suffering, no matter how temporary.

Thank you for a way to express myself that feels relatively comfortable.

Thank you for reconciliation. Thank you for learning to trust and be trusted.

Thank you for the space where healing happens on its own.

Thank you for safety in an unsafe world.

Thank you for frog sounds by lakes at night.

Thank you for people who catch critters in the house and release them outside rather than killing them.

Thank you for the energy and healing of light.

Thank you for ponytails, buns, braids, baseball caps, and sun hats.

Thank you for dogs and people walking together.

Thank you for goofy album covers.

Thank you for how much cleaner it feels no longer to have a bunch of dusty old books.

Thank you for a signed contract and a spring slot on the construction calendar, after months of back and forth.

Thank you for the helpful and/or well-meaning folks at the Calabasas Department of Regional Planning one-stop shop.

Thank you for the planning guys in downtown LA taking the time not just to meet with me but to really listen and offer what aid they could.

Thank you for respect and compassion among strangers.

Thank you for Bear Canyon Arroyo.

Thank you for uphill walks, jogs, and rides.

Thank you for nail files.

Thank you for wagging tails.

Thank you for what I learned from Abdullah Zeinab’s post of his bike fitting. It came to light during the fit that his body was unusually asymmetrical, not by nature but through injury and use. Related to this, he had been riding off-center. So they taped what looked like the handle of a screwdriver into the groove that divided his saddle. He was told to ride with that little rod nestled between his cheeks. It would guide him to regain symmetry—a few weeks training like that would correct the imbalance. At first, the correction seemed awkward to him, and not just because he was cradling a rod in his cheeks. After sitting unevenly for so long, being smack in the middle felt like it must be off to the side.

My lessons gained from that episode: (1) External success does not necessarily indicate balance or wellness. (2) Sometimes, we may become twisted from avoiding pain or compensating for a past hurt. (3) When we grow used to that contorted state, then being off center feels natural, so to straighten what is crooked will feel unnatural. (4) Doing what feels totally wrong can actually be right. This fourth lesson speaks to me right now, because every time I log in to this site, I’m nervous. Every time I post, a wave of shame washes hot over me. But maybe the nervousness and shame are like Abdullah’s feeling that he was off-balance on the saddle when he was actually in the middle.

Thank you for the dedication to keep writing these even when I’m not in the mood.

Thank you for the charitable reader.

Thank you for the thought that I’d rather be vulnerable and risk playing a fool than to be “smart,” risk little, and protect my pride.

Thank you for all of us going through hard times together these days (rather than most or all of us going through hard times alone, as usual).

Thank you for a little taste of what it feels like to be displaced, especially by an event related to the climate crisis, because it helps me to relate a tiny bit to what many are going through and will go through all over the world.

Thank you for Trader Joe’s almond milk chocolate bars and for their vegetable gyoza (boiled until slippery).

Thank you for Peaches’ cuddliness.

Thank you for flax becoming linen becoming bed sheets.

Thank you for relational mindfulness.

Thank you for raindrops.

Thank you for happy elephant families.

Thank you for beautiful songs.

Thank you for beautiful human beings.

Thank you for strategies to relax.

Thank you for activities that don’t involve the use of screens or electronic devices.

Thank you for Moon’s sewing machine and the lessons learned through its use.

Thank you for Lula Mae the pothos, Verbena the dracaena, and Celeste the peace lily.

Thank you for humbling moments.

Thank you for friendships based on kindness rather than on superficial common interests or the exchange of resources.

Thank you for equanimity.

Thank you for chocolate banana smoothies.

Thank you for people who make a living helping people, and who care more about what they do than about what they get.

Thank you for how age and love can soften cantankerous personalities.

Thank you for when little things like silence and patience, maybe a few gentle questions here and there, prompt awareness in others that leads to transformation.

Thank you for times to speak out and times to listen, and for the glimmer of potential to discern the one from the other.

Thank you for when I have the awareness to realize that my mind is so confused that it’s better to remain silent.

Thank you for my future SO, who will have to be exceptionally understanding and patient to be with me, since some of my relationship ways are slightly stunted from having seen practice only long ago, before my wellness routines took hold.

Thank you for the capacities to learn and grow.

Thank you for my love of independence and alone time taming my needy, clingy sides.

Thank you for when facing our own insecurities helps others realize and acknowledge theirs.

Thank you for indirect communication.

Thank you for misunderstandings that gradually push communication forward and ultimately bring people closer.

Thank you for direct communication.

Thank you for how, with certain situations, I’m much better at one small step at a time than I am at diving in head first (although I try to force myself to dive into deep ends).

Thank you for the realization that I still try too hard to please others, from insecurities, rather than choosing what is best for me, and that doing so still makes situations worse, and that it’s not a fatal flaw, and that there are alternative options.

Thank you for love, less as a feeling and more as an action.

Thank you for love as a feeling and a doing, that’s more valuable than material wealth.

Thank you for long distance friendships.

Thank you for when Julie texts just to tell me she loves me.

Thank you for loving friendships.

Thank you for unconditional acceptance of the present and the future, even of so-called natural disasters and total failure.

Thank you for moments of clarity that come with fasting, meditation, and prayer.

Thank you for “Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.”

Thank you for the men and women who draw out the deep water.

Thank you for time and space to think.

Thank you for the human capacity to give the benefit of the doubt and use the principle of charity.

Thank you for comfort with ambiguity.

Thank you for the understanding that we don’t understand.

Thank you for vegan dog food.

Thank you for healthy dogs, unaware that they’re vegan, simply enjoying their meals.

Thank you for the anchor of daily routines that keeps wellness from drifting out of sight.

Thank you for memories of entering a crowded grocery store with a naked face and touching items on the shelves with reckless abandon.

Thank you for memories of being affectionate with strangers, like on my birthday last year when I decided to gift random people with hugs.

Thank you for memories of sweating in the sauna.

Thank you for how appetizing Veggie Grill seems now that it’s out of reach.

Thank you for burritos with French fries inside and hot sauce on every bite.

Thank you for the stereotype that Californians love avocados.

Thank you for baby steps leading to a tiny house.

Thank you for the opportunity to move back “home,” tempered with awareness that home is wherever I choose love and seek purpose.

Thank you for persistence.

Thank you for patience.

Thank you for promises of greater independence.

Thank you for scents of plants while out on walks.

Thank you for clean toilets.

Thank you for warm water.

Thank you for coyote sitings on bike rides.

Thank you for all of us beings on this planet together.

Thank you for small footprints.

Thank you for secondhand shopping online.

Thank you for used trainers.

Thank you for the sounds that animals make in the wild.

Thank you for the sounds that children make in backyards, especially when a swimming pool is involved.

Thank you for gargoyles.

Thank you for old architecture still intact.

Thank you for World War II documentaries and books.

Thank you for the unconventional life and love of Virginia Hall.

Thank you for courage to do the right thing in the face of grave consequences.

Thank you for small habits that build noble character.

Thank you for when I lighten up.

Thank you for the hardware that holds up shelves and such.

Thank you for vegan mammoul.

Thank you for time to recover from a draining office job.

Thank you for shampoo bars that actually work.

Thank you for funnies.

Thank you for the guy who almost hit me in the crosswalk, driving while on his cellphone, because he was so apologetic about it.

Thank you for drivers who make efforts to give pedestrians and cyclists their due right of way.

Thank you for the warmth and satisfaction of talking with strangers when you’ve been deprived of social interaction.

Thank you for body lotion.

Thank you for electrolyte drinks.

Thank you for Candide.

Thank you for cricket chirps.

Thank you for the practice of showing love every day with those around us.

Thank you for the possibility of a restful night.

Thank you for when there is clear headspace to think.

Thank you for when there is stability.

Thank you for our capacity to see others’ points of view, or at least to realize that those points of view are very different from what we may assume them to be.

Thank you for a village of caring family and friends.

Thank you for everything being ok even if it’s not ok.

Thank you for the happier days.

Thank you for the peaceful days.

Thank you for hunger when there is food available.

Thank you for another safe ride.

Thank you for deluges of love and confusion.

Thank you for when head spins slow down.

Thank you for desert sunsets.

Thank you for the feeling of being soaked in gentle heat and light.

Thank you for musical instruments.

Thank you for real life ghost stories shared by people who don’t believe in ghosts.

Thank you for learning new languages.

Thank you for love languages.

Thank you for languages of love.

Thank you for faith in the capacity to learn and understand.

Thank you for clean laundry.

Thank you for the smell of tea tree oil.

Thank you for crispy, crunchy, and chewy.

Thank you for singing birds on morning walks.

Thank you for online bill pay.

Thank you for heart emojis.

Thank you for the impermanence of tan lines.

Thank you for feelings of freedom.

Thank you for more freedom as a woman here and now than in other places and at other times.

Thank you for people whose vision of a just future inspires actions to realize that future.

Thank you for the orange line, and for all of the friendly exchanges between strangers on its buses.

Thank you for every single person on earth speaking a (sometimes slightly) different language. Thank you for how each of us tries to translate what we hear others say, so that we understand it in our own personal language. Thank you for how we also try to translate what we think or feel from our personal language into a shared language that others will understand.

Thank you for the art of communication.

Thank you for tahini sauce.

Thank you for pleasing color combinations.

Thank you for accordions and for those who play them.

Thank you for polka dots.

Thank you for whimsy.

Thank you for soundproof rooms.

Thank you for bathroom fans.

Thank you for overwhelming gifts.

Thank you for fana and baqa.

Thank you for full journal pages.

Thank you for women who run businesses, like Elyse at Minimaliste.

Thank you for us humans supporting each other through life.

Thank you for (r)evolutions in consciousness.

Thank you for mystics. Thank you for laborers. Thank you for mystics who are also laborers.

Thank you for Rumi.

Thank you for when the temperature in the room is just right without any help from AC, fan, or heat.

Thank you for the many shapes that pasta comes in and for the cute names attached to those shapes.

Thank you for that feeling of being clean inside from eating whole plant foods, exercising, and staying hydrated.

Thank you for epic love stories.

Thank you for men with the courage to be vulnerable in a society that discourages it.

Thank you for another stereotype: the confidence of French women to age gracefully with style.

Thank you for the beauty of differences and the vibrance of cultures.

Thank you for a heart that is falling back into a smooth rhythm after a period of instability..

Thank you for beginnings.

Thank you for Sister being in a good mood today.

Thank you for my being easy on myself even though I kind of feel like I’ve been letting me down lately.

Thank you for refugees who are able to rebuild their lives in peace.

Thank you for belly buttons—for how cute they can be.

Thank you for the mood lift that comes with watching Tabitha Brown videos.

Thank you for serious (positive) impacts of humor.

Thank you for when devices and gadgets function as intended.

Thank you for nightgowns.

Thank you for nightstands.

Thank you for how there are words to denote things that belong to the night, as though that time of day is a distinct realm with its own dedicated objects and creatures.

Thank you for peaceful nights that lead to happy mornings that carry over to productive days that roll back out to peaceful nights. 

Thank you for if the power of suggestion causes the above cycle to apply to you.

Thank you for anyone other than myself who somehow may benefit from something shared here.

Thank you for aimless walks with Peaches.

Thank you for how much we gain by doing less.

Thank you for our growing awareness that our individual actions impact the entire world.

Thank you for our growing awareness that we share our space, that all of our wellbeings are intertwined and all of us deserve a space to thrive.

Thank you for the opportunity within crisis to prompt lasting change for common good.

Thank you for learning that flows from difficult lessons.

Thank you for unselfish, realistic optimism.

Thank you for miso ramen.

Thank you for free online yoga videos.

Thank you for intuition and divine guidance, and for trust in something greater than ourselves.

Thank you for the lucky happy feeling nature’s beauty inspires, like how it feels to catch sight of a rainbow or a dolphin or a deer.

Thank you for raspberries and for raspberries with chocolate.

Thank you for Unity booch.

Thank you for insights and solutions that land on us without our trying or choosing.

Thank you for faith that the insights and solutions are on their way when we don’t yet see them.

Thank you for kisses from Peaches.

Thank you for quiet nights.

Thank you for warm baths.

Thank you for caring neighbors.

Thank you for people who wave.

Thank you for windy bike rides.

Thank you for old books that speak the living words of dead people.

Thank you for quick-drying towels.

Thank you for leaves.

Thank you for the awe of thunder and lightning.

Thank you for favors received and favors paid forward.

Thank you for thoughtful surprises.

Thank you for falling down and getting back up again and again and again and again…

Thank you for animals living in harmony with other animals.

Thank you for velvet hums in still rooms.

Thank you for the dream of floating on the ocean and the water got too deep too fast and the waves crashed willy nilly and a shark fin peeked up and I knew that I was in strange territory and I knew that I was afraid.

Thank you for an active imagination.

Thank you for the blissful calm of a warm blanket.

Thank you for the power of music to have its way with our hearts.

Thank you for prickly succulents.

Thank you for forgiveness.

Thank you for faith.

Thank you for when slow motion dreams call for patience.

Thank you for today.

Thank you for tomorrow.

Thank you for clean air to breathe.

Thank you for when Peaches rolls on her back and stretches one paw or two, and I rub her tummy.

Thank you for a dad who loved me.

Thank you for the spicy-fresh taste of arugula that lingers like a funky breath mint.

Thank you for hill repeats.

Thank you for spare tubes.

Thank you for texts with Anita.

Thank you for texts with Sister.

Thank you for texts with Moon.

Thank you for alone time outside.

Thank you for people who find love.

Thank you for the Santa Monica Mountains.

Thank you for the Sandia Mountains.

Thank you for the eucalyptus trees at the lot, for how peaceful it feels to watch their branches sway and to breathe them in.

Thank you for changing seasons.

Thank you for strength to keep moving forward even the tiniest amount.

Thank you for an organized closet.

Thank you for dark chocolate.

Thank you for facial expressions on dogs—especially surprise.

Thank you for the way LEDs light a room.

Thank you for home-cooked meals.

Thank you for neighbors who give you their old sweaters that they don’t wear anymore.

Thank you for fresh cracked pepper.

Thank you for the word “hugelkultur.”

Thank you for elderly folks who watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy on the reg.

Thank you for cats on leashes and for cats running free.

Thank you for the possibility of what seems impossible.

Thank you for Cali.

Thank you for UCLA.

Thank you for redwoods and beaches and winding mountain roads.

Thank you for fresh produce and local wine and warm smiles.

Thank you for innovation and role models.

Thank you for can-do attitudes.

Thank you for compostable poop bags.

Thank you for clean water.

Thank you for hair and nails that grow.

Thank you for YouTube videos on how to cut your own hair.

Thank you for empty journal pages.

Thank you for uplifting messages like “inspiration is everywhere” and “greet the unexpected boldly” debossed on pencils.

Thank you for irreverent greeting cards.

Thank you for the good kind of poetry.

Thank you for the word “antiquity” in French (antiquité).

Thank you for a dream of a pet bull (Ferdinand!), gleefully adored, even if he did have a little bit of bullshit smeared down his bottom.

Thank you for vegan takeout.

Thank you for El Dorado.

Thank you for the surplus of Juans in ABQ.

Thank you for light jokes and deep laughter.

Thank you for weirds.

Thank you for Jenny Slate’s stories.

Thank you for the feeling of I have enough already.

Thank you for heavy eyelids.

Thank you for when it’s easy to fall asleep.

Thank you for night toots.

Thank you for dogs dreaming out loud.