Gratitudes

It's been a few weeks since I was grateful. Not really I've actually been very grateful I just haven't blogged about it. So were are my 5 Gratitudes for this week:


1. My amazing Mother came to help me (ok she really did all) paint the apartment I just moved into. After all that time working on the studio the thought of picking up yet another paint brush or do anything that resembles renovation gave me the shakes. So Mom swooped in from Alabama and is currently spray painting the gnarliest kitchen hardware ever!


2. THE HEAT BROKE! It actually feels like Wisconsin again.



3. Happier about the weather than I am, my dog! She is even feeling a little frisky and instigating play with other dogs, you have to kow how stoic my dog is to be grateful for this so just take my word.


4. I am reading a great book. The Four Desires by Rob Stryker. Its really helping me keep perceptive during all this transition. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking more clarity about their life's future.


5. Prayer. No, no, no don't worry I'm not going to get all weird on you! It's My sanskrit teacher's fault really, she gave us an challenge to chant everyday for 10 days. I had completely forgotten how much I love this practice. I've been reciting mantras on walks, when I'm cooking, at the studio, before I go to bed, I've prayed more in the past 4 weeks than I ever did growing up in Catholic school.


Some of the prayers I've been reciting as mantra:

 The Gayatri Mantra:
OM BHOOR BHUWAH SWAHA,
TAT SAVITUR VARENYAM
BHARGO DEVASAYA DHEEMAHI
DHIYO YO NAHA PRACHODAYAT.

This Mantra has many translations here is one:
Oh God! Thou art the Giver of Life,
Remover of pain and sorrow,
The Bestower of happiness,
Oh! Creator of the Universe,
May we receive thy supreme sin-destroying light,
May Thou guide our intellect in the right direction.

The Santi Mantra (This is the one I painted in the studio)

 

The Serenity Prayer

Dear God, 

Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change

The Courage to change the things I can

And the Wisdom to know the difference 

Blessing.

Just as I was posting this blog the other day a gentleman stopped by the studio. I met him at the General Store in town the day I closed the studio, he seemed genuinely upset but very understanding. A few days ago was the first cool morning we've had in weeks so I had the studio door open as I worked on the computer (blogging) and this gentleman pulls up and starts to walk in, I don't remember his name but he hands me an envelope and says, "keep the dream alive." Then he turns to go so I stop him and say thank you as graciously as I can and I give him a hug.

Inside the envelope was this article about yoga.

And this note.

Inside the note were 2 hundred dollar bills. I cried. At this point I couldn't squeeze $200 out of my bank account if I had the World Arm Wrestling Champion helping me! So that seems like quite a gift to me, the article and the hug would have been enough of a gift to me but to for this gentleman to make an offer like that, well it was almost too much for me.

Here's the thing, this man will never do yoga. He has some disabilities that will forever keep him off the mat but he believes in me and in what I am trying to create even if he can't reap the benifts himself.

I am humbled by such a gift and this gentleman is a blessing to me.