A walk with gratitude

Early morning tea

When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength.  Give thanks for the food and the joy of living.  If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself.

~ Tecumseh

Squiggles on the pond

Up until a few years ago, February was my least favorite month of winter.  It’s a short month that somehow manages to stretch into infinity (and beyond).  It’s the month of gray days, cabin fever, and a longing for spring and sunshine and plants sprouting up out of the earth.

Snow urchin

Going outside every day, even in February, has helped me move beyond the desire to rush through winter and bring on the next season.  Even so, February can often still feel like a long month.  That’s especially true when we’ve seen little to no sunshine.  People get the winter blues, the February Funk, and it rubs off on those of us who are not so blue or grumpy or yearning.

Shooting the side of the barn.  (Wish I’d done this the other day when I needed a pop of red!)

To live a life of gratitude is to open our eyes to the countless ways in which we are supported by the world around us.  Such a life provides less space for our suffering because our attention is more balanced.  We are more often occupied with noticing what we are given, thanking those who have helped us, and repaying the world in some concrete way for what we are receiving.

~ Gregg Krech

The little holly lives in a stark landscape this time of year.

As I was out on my walk today, I thought about how grateful I am to be here.  Right here.  Right now.  Walking and living in this beautiful place.  How lucky I am!

Proof that the sun exists.

It doesn’t matter that it’s another gray and snowy day.  I am grateful to be here no matter what the weather.

A glimpse of fungi

M and I have lived here at Breezy Acres for ten years.  During the first year, I was excited and happy and grateful to be a part of this place.  Then the excitement faded with the work, and the weather.  It was too hot.  Too cold.  Too buggy.  Too humid.  I didn’t feel like putting on a hundred pounds worth of layers to go outside.

Bamboo in the woods

I still have days like that, when it’s too hot, too cold, too humid, too buggy.  Days when I think to myself, “I don’t feel like going outside today.”  I go outside anyway.

The grass isn’t always green

I’m too curious not to go.  I want to see what’s going on out there.  Everything changes overnight, and this little piece of the world is new to me every single day.

Today’s discovery

In relation to others, gratitude is good manners; in relation to ourselves, it is a habit of the heart and a spiritual discipline.

~ Daphne Rose Kingma

One (more thing to be thankful for)

What are you thankful for today?

The dried wildflowers are wearing their winter caps.

That’s it from the Bogs on this gray and snowy Tuesday in February.  Thank you for visiting, and joining me on a slow and thankful walk around the pond.  We’ll be getting more snow tonight and tomorrow.  I think it’s time to build a new snowperson.  Anyone want to help?  I’m not sure the snow is pack-able (we’ve been getting that light and fluffy stuff), but we can give it a try.

Potential

Have a delightful day, evening, night… whenever and wherever you are on the spectrum of time.  🙂

Promising

Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.

~ A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

A very small feather atop the snow

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