SIMPLY BLESSED Happy warm and cozy Sunday... Hopefully that statement rings true for all of you reading this...that you are experiencing joy and appreciating comfort. I saw through the myth of Thanksgiving at an early age. (Although I was not as young as I was when I outed Santa Claus...!) So...this week I will be celebrating the last harvest of the year and many of us will be pondering what we are thankful for and what things or qualities in our lives we might count as blessings. Of course, this could be a daily exercise...but if some of us need a "holiday" to remind us...well then, what the heck. Speaking for myself, I am happy as a yam :-), because on Saturday I purchased everything I needed to make a perfect Thanksgiving Feast. On a very short shoestring...I glided through the grocery store and made perfect choices...not extravagant choices...but perfect. And I feel SO blessed. It's the simple things. Willingly & gladly I will get up early on Thursday morning (early is not my usual M.O.!), and prepare the turkey and other delectables. Music will be playing while I cook as it often is. I will have fun carefully choosing what plates to use... taking out my favorite 1960's glasses and making sure I use as much of my Italian Pottery as possible. I'll set the table, light some candles...and then like a little kid, anticipate the knocks on the door. Later, I will have several friends and and a son around that table. We will eat too much, laugh and have interesting conversation. We will play more music...get lazy... and eat a little more. Embracing the company, the food, the mood. Simple elegance. Then when the Tryptophan really begins to have us under it's spell, I will clean up...and say our good nights. I will then...be alone once again in the post-Thanksgiving decor...with a feeling of deep contentment. Simply speaking...we need to create the environment, in which we can thrive. We do not have control over what is outside of ourselves beyond the tiny corner that we call HOME in this world. But when we are simply in tune with WHO we are...the 'reality out there'...may seem less irritating and perhaps we may, in ways we do not even see or understand... effect the whole just from our own self-reflection and genuine acts. Living and doing simply and with care, that is my blessing this year. Now...it's apparent that many people will not be feeling very thankful this week, whether they celebrate the same Holiday or not. Some of us are in too much pain and lack and depression and confusion to feel any gratitude. In many cases it is totally understandable. All you have to do is read or listen to the news for just 5 minutes and you would know what I am talking about. I am moved to tears by stories that I hear...some right in my own back yard, some across the nation, others across the planet. I am deeply touched by what I am witnessing as a somewhat distant bystander. And yet...having a deep awareness of the oneness of it all...it sometimes feels like it is all happening to me. And it is. But it isn't. Evidently, many of you are also experiencing this challenge, according to conversations I have had recently. At this point in our Human Evolution, (as I have mentioned before) we are picking up on the vibrations of others so easily...and sometimes it is difficult to detach from what may not actually "belong to us". I assume that those of you reading this understand the phenomenon of 'being tuned in'...as not always a conscious choice or intentional act. We all handle it differently and we personally feel it in unique ways at specific times. Sometimes it feels like a curse. Other times, a blessing. Please join me this week in the awareness that the oneness of our human beingnessas a WHOLE is a blessing. That the good, the bad and the ugly are only our attached views of perception and that we may all feel the warmth, joy and blessings that as a planet we are really intended to experience. Let us remember that the the only way we can truly uplift humanity is to start by uplifting one human...our self. We are our brothers keeper...but you see, lifting our own personal veils of perception and deception is truly the way of compassion towards others. We will always need activists...those fearless humans who are not afraid to stand up for what is seemingly NOT right. Not all of us are meant to be that. But we are all intended to be "activators"...by simply being real, feeling our feelings, honest and heartfelt responses...continually 'upgrading our energetic/emotional programs, while learning to place gentle boundaries around us, is the way to be able to help...without getting caught up in the pain and confusion that we see with our human eyes. It may not all be taken as as a compassionate act...this 'activating' VS the more accepted...'Activism' :-) But I feel that is the path necessary...allowing this empathetic, energetic surge in our Evolution to become a blessing and not a curse....and I truly believe it is more than just the first step to healing the earth & humanity...but that it is the Healing itself. Simple? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While I was perusing the web for new music I came across THIS SITE and then this really cool article. And then found THIS . Perhaps all you Musicians out there... sound healers and music aficionados like myself will find it as fascinating as I do. Enjoy. ~Be gracious. ~Keep it simple. ~Thank the Turkey. :-)