Dear Savor Community,  

Let’s use this time, in the wake of Thanksgiving, to nurture the deep seeds of gratitude within us.  We can water these seeds each day, by pausing to notice and embrace the love that flows through to connect us all. Like making way for water to run, we carve out time and attention in our lives, so that we may fully accept the gifts of life.

Breathing in, I open my heart to receive love.

Breathing out, I smile with thanks.

When we practice opening our eyes to the sky, our ears to the laughter of strangers, our hands to loved-ones, we receive so much goodness, and it’s easy to know that we are all related.  With this knowledge, we expand ourselves. This is inter-being. In this state we invite truth to envelop us.  We allow the universe and everything in it to care for us. We walk in unison toward peace.

It isn’t always easy to practice oneness, to give love and receive love without fear or anxiety.  But thankfully, there are many beautiful manifestations of love to guide us. Art, music, poetry, nature, and nurturing community remind me that I am part of a greater whole.

Below are two wonderful pieces, a poem and a video.  When I am feeling disconnected or empty of gratitude, these help me return to my true self.  Please enjoy and leave a comment, to share your own inspiration.

A poem for you, by Thich Nhat Hanh:

This Body Is Not Me.

I am not limited by this body,
I am life without boundaries.
I have never been born,
and I have never died.

Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars, manifestations from my wondrous true mind.
Since before time, I have been free.
Birth and death are only doors through which we pass, sacred thresholds on our journey.
Birth and death are a game of hide-and-seek.

So laugh with me,
hold my hand,
let us say goodbye,
say goodbye to meet again soon.

We meet today.
We will meet again tomorrow.
We will meet at the source every moment.
We meet each other in all forms of life.

From Plum Village Chanting and Recitations, Parallax Press. Page 188.

A video for you, from Louie Schwartzberg: Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.

From this video: “I wish that you will open your heart to all these blessings and let them flow through you.  Then everyone whom you meet on this day will be blessed by you.  Just by your eyes, by your smile, by your touch, just by your presence.  Let the gratefulness overflow into blessing all around you.  Then it will really be a good day.”