Gratitude

Today I'm so thankful to my great teachers. That would include my body/mind and all its fluctuations (health and illness are truly awesome teachers), my family (great teachers, every one of them), my dog (one of the greatest teachers I've ever had), my friends, oh my goodness, my friends have taught me so much. Old and new, scattered all over the place, friends I still have relationships with, friends I no longer connect with, blog friends I've never met, blog friends who have become 'real' friends: thank you.

And to all my healers, from my great dentist to the Sufi acupuncturist, and to all the healers I've worked with in the past, all of whom have taught me so much, thank you all.

Yes I'm grateful for all the lovers and partners who taught me about joy, who taught me what it's like to be completely revealed, and who also taught me some rather cruel lessons about heartbreak. With deep sincerity, I thank you.

I'm grateful beyond measure to the world, the weather, seasons, trees, bugs, birds, animals, landscapes, the sound of the ocean, the river and other bodies of water, Brother Sun and Brother Moon, and so on and so on. I'm especially thankful for the way the world offers its abundant wisdom so generously, even if I don't always pay close attention.

Should say, too, that I am so grateful for the people who formally took on the role of teacher, i.e. the people who wrote the books I've learned so much from, the ones who stood in the front of the classroom or at the center of the circle. I'm also referring to invisible teachers - ancestors, spirit guides, the Dead, animal spirits. Thanks for being there for me.

Happiest Thanksgiving to all.


GRATITUDE TO OLD TEACHERS

When we stride or stroll across the frozen lake,
We place our feet where they have never been.
We walk upon the unwalked. But we are uneasy.
Who is down there but our old teachers?

Water that once could take no human weight-
We were students then-holds up our feet,
And goes on ahead of us for a mile.
Beneath us the teachers, and around us the stillness.

--Robert Bly