Graditude

Gilly I think it is wonderful that you encourage your children to be aware of what others may be feeling or needing. It seems like teaching them empathy , which if you planned to do, might be very difficult.

So no, if I am an opportunity for others to express this giving energy within themselves, it is excellent, because it gives me the chance to do my part by receiving.

Sometimes we say giving and receiving are the same thing in New Thought. In my mind I picture a sub atomic construction with a particle of giving be followed by a particle of receiving in an endless circle generating a great power. When we block or drop the ball in this process we stifle the energy in our lives.

Just now I am learning to play receiver in this process , I used to only want to be a giver.

Today I am grateful for the interaction I had with fellow patients at the PT facility. They are always encouraging to me and many have greater challenges than I do.

Today I asked for divine guidance for the best way to comfort someone. I wanted very much to make suggestions about letting go, and of placing someone or some situation into the hands of God , lovingly. Spirit had another idea and reminded me that "The Christ in you is not the same as the Christ in me. " This or something like it, is from Cady's book Lessons in Truth.

This reminded me that that divine good is working for everyone no matter what it may look like to me. They do not need 'handy tips from me , they have on board guidance so to speak, customized to their every need.

Thank you Holy Spirit for shining that light in my mind.

Today I am grateful for ice. Recently when I was told I would have to limit my fluid intake, I came to the conclusion that a cup of ice was more important to me than any liquid I might want to pour over it. Today even with less humidity than we usually have at this time of year, this was definitely a day to enjoy all things cold.

Teka wrote:There is some other secret.....we have red clay and compost here too. However we have very little perpetually damp spoil. In the few places I have that in my yard, moss grows if it is shaded. Everything I've tried to grow in those spots struggles then dies. I guessed for lack of sun. But I haven't tried herbs there.

I'd suggest a shade lover like vinca, also known as periwinkle. It's a beautiful ground cover, doesn't require much water. Should pretty much take over any spot that is damp enough for moss. Tough stuff...evergreen during winters that get down in the teens to zero now and then with lovely blue-purple blooms in spring to early summer. There are other vincas, but asking for the one also known as periwinkle will get you this if you think it might work in those shady spots.

Stuff grew well and spread readily but not so fast you had to beat it back with a stick in the sandy soil we had where we used to live. I almost never watered it either unless I was trying to get it to start up in other places.

I don't mind the bad spots in the yard, but I would like to get chives and mint to establish themselves somewhere. I noticed on the one chives plant I bought this year it said it was not self seeding. I wonder how that can be. Guess I'll have to do some research about varieties.

This reminds me of the bamboo search I did, only in reverse. The kind of bamboo that does really well here is called running bamboo and that is exactly what it does. If you want acres of canebrake just plant it and take a nap. LOL You'll have fishing poles for a small country in no time. English ivy will take over almost as fast as kudzu. but mint seems to be an annual here. Go figure.

I've killed vinca, ajuga, rhododendron, hardy ferns, lily of the valley and a few other things in my mossy spots. I am begining to suspect the soil is sour there or the bushes near by are too much competition for what I'm trying to do. The competition idea came from a local nursey man who listened to my tale of woe at some length. It has crossed my mind to put in some portuclaca just to see what happens to them. We have a red flowering kind that establishes itself here. They are notorious for liking poor soil.

Today I am aware of and grateful to the many people who listen to my questions and make helpful suggestions or just listen. When I was talking to the therapist today about another patient who had struck such a chord with me on my last visit she showed me that she too wanted to say or do something for her, above her therapist job. The person gave off a huge vibration of sadness. The therapist said she thought she was very isolated. That is the plight of many with health challenges..... especially in the elderly.

Today I am grateful for the patience of one of my doctor's offices while I drove around looking for the new office. The third set of instructions was the charm. It would have been good to warn me when the appointment was made, but what the heck, how were they to know they've been in that location about 3 years.

What amazed me was the difference in the first two sets of instructions. One from a woman and one from a man. Do we give instructions the way we would like to get them? It makes me think of my own manner of communication. No one said it's on 14th between Governors and Holmes until I asked this question myself.
They both told me long , confusing turn by turn detailed descriptions. Why does too much information confuse me. LOL Perhaps there is a difference in the way we would get to a given spot.

It's like religion isn't it? Perhaps the more information (dogma?) the harder it is to follow. LOL

Today I am so grateful my books came , I'm trying to read them both at once. I have already found a scientist with the same family name was instrumental in finding the flea to be the vector for the plague. And I have found I should not eat licorice while I am taking Plavix. What more could I ask for than new information. Ah the little gray cells as Hercule would say.

Thank you Mother/Father God for knowledge, even if we do not do anything edifying with it at times.

I am grateful for days off, for adventures to museums and for a car air conditioner that really works now!

I hope that everyone has a lovely day and finds something that makes you smile.

A day late, but I am very grateful for the "ideal" of the USA we all carry in our hearts. How close we come to realizing that perfect state will always be disappointing in some ways. Still I'm proud and thankful.

Today I am grateful for the guidance and grace that everyday make my life better than it might be. Today I set out to go some where and after a couple of starts that failed I suddenly realized something was at work to prevent me from going. I am finally at a stage when I trust that there is a good reason for things like that. A plane doesn't have to crash for me to trust that I will be better off giving up my plans. It feels wrong..don't do it. I call it the guidance of my inner Divinity.

Very interesting thread here Teka! I have enjoyed your thoughts of reaching out to spirit, and connecting to spirit in all of us. That is what life is all about, isn't it? Sounds simplistic, and I have come to the conclusion that it is! Isn't that the wonderful news? Simplistic!
I've caught Dyer on PBS back in May, about his new book "No Excuses." Like you I caught the tail end of it. Drats! I was reading Chopra & Tolle way before they became popular. I would love to catch up on some of the Dyer books! Ah, tomorrow I shall be heading to the local library tomorrow.
Thank you for this thread, you have given me renewed energy!

There are so many excellent writers out there on this inner work. The trick is finding the ones that are meaningful to us as individuals.

I am so grateful for ET's work. In my studies of Buddhism, which I found to be just vibrating with truths for me, no one has managed to get past my 'western' blocks like he has. It is hellish to be just so close to grasping some ideas and knowing you just don't get it. And you want it. LOL

If I have learned anything about all this mental gardening, it is that I must have a daily practice. If it is only to reflect on what I'm thankful for, some days. Hopefully there will be a bit of meditation and reading of someone's work who inspires me to keep reaching in and out with spirit.

How about Tolle's remark "I have lived with several Zen masters and all of them were cats."? Just when my eyes are spinning and my brain is beginning to itch he snaps me out of my 'trying' trap. LOL

I've too, enjoy Tolle! I find myself picking up his books & rereading them, to make sure I'm not going crazy! Yes, the head starts hurting, and I start going numb when I'm hit with the obvious ego trips the world loves to play!
Years ago, I went the "other way" West meets East, by reading some Benjamin Hoff's books: The Tao of Pooh, & The Te of Piglet! Cute, entertaining, and they hurt my head, all for the good! I recommend them to everyone confused by the different philosophies of East & West!

I am grateful that Versus puts each stage of the Tour de France about four different times a day. Since I never seem to be able and watch it all the way through at any one time, I can see it all in sessions. LOL I am also grateful for Lance Armstrong who seems to be the kind of celebrity we can be proud of. Most people I know think this race is right up there with watching paint dry. I love it.

Today I give thanks for my first ripe small cherry tomato. It tasted like sunshine.

Oh man I am so envious! I tried a tomato plant in a container this year and honestly, it looks like some sort of warped Orc tomato plant - it doesn't look at all normal, and scary which is a very odd way to describe a plant. Every little green tomato it gets on it, rots. I have such hope and then it is dashed. Another rotten tomato. If I ever do get a cherry tomato it will be the World's Most Expensive Tomato, at this rate.

My goodness, the reason I plant cherry tomatoes is solely because of their disease resistance. My husband who thinks he knows a lot about gardening cannot produce a single unflawed vegetable or fruit. I keep hearing about blossom end rot. I thought that produced no tomatoes. Sometimes nurseries will give you advice....the advantage to them is that if it requires a product you might buy it from them.

My biggest advice about containers is always use new potting mixture or dirt that hasn't grown vegies recently. You know you can cut a sucker off your existing plant . Plant it in a new batch of dirt or ground away from the parent plant and see what it does. Your growing season may not be long enough for it to produce tomatoes though.

When I grew tomatoes in HI there was a fly that ruined them but if you tied a paper bag around the stem as soon as you could see the fruit has set they would grow unmolested. It was a lot of bother but it worked beautifully. Your description sounds a lot like that problem. I was using this technique on med. sized tomatoes and the standard brown lunch bag worked great. On little tomatoes it would take a little bag. I tied them rather loose so as not to strangle the stem and when I could feel fruit in the bag I would untie a few to check and remove ripe fruit.

You think I'm nuts right? It's alright. I'm praying for the right answer for you to materialize. And thanks for dropping by and posting.

My husband likes to shop for bargains and he has found fresh cut flowers on sale lately, so I have some carnations here beside me. They are one of my favorites. The first time I got the non-labeling exercise from ET I was looking at a carnation. That was such an extraordinary event I will always be grateful for seeing the being of a flower.

Thanks for the flowers H.

Well, once I had a garden and it was pretty! Then a year went by and then another and the garden didn't look as pretty. And then the husband dumped a load of wood on the garden....and now it is no more....so sad!!!!

One of the great delights of my life is my daughter's garden. I think the gene for that skipped me and went straight to her. I study it, practice, try things, that may or may not grow, but it just flows from her hands like magic. She has annuals that come back year after year. She does mostly flowers but branched out to raspberries a couple of years ago and they are thriving.

People talk about being fulfilled by having children and frankly I never got it until I saw her garden. It's like .........look what I did! I made a child who can do that! Thank you Mother/Father God for a child who can create with dirt.

Another treat the Universe had for me today was a field full on burros and donkeys. There must have been a dozen of them. Now I have to think about talking to their owner. There were at least 3 different kinds. I want to know more about them. I wonder how and if they are trained, pack, cart pulling etc. This is one of those things that make life so interesting to me. Burros!!! Whoopee!!!

We planted Okra, and let me tell ya gang! I'm in hog heaven right now with stewed okra & fresh tomatoes from our garden! Life is good! All planted carefully, with love by John!

I've made a few converts to fried okra, but I guess I can't sell what I don't like myself. Stewed okra alone is definitely an acquired taste. We use a little in soups and gumbo though.

It is wonderful this time of year when you can hear recipes for garden produce nearly everywhere you go. Yesterday a lady at pool therapy was waxing eloquently about squashes and different ways to make them.

I am thankful for the produce already given to me by gardeners more productive than me. I will be looking for recipients myself when my cucumbers get started producing .

Some friends came down last week from Oregon. They didn't know what fried okra was. They didn't like it, either. I tried to explain that most things in Oklahoma are fried, but they didn't believe me.

Fried okra by itself is okay. But it you serve it with a meal of butter beans, black eyed peas, fried okra, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden and maybe a piece of chicken (not really necessary) and hot homemade biscuits or cornbread then that's some good eating.

Ed to add: Some collard greens would go well with that too.

Stop making me hungry!!!!!