Beth Hamon
  • Home
  • Everything I make
    • Recordings
    • Sheet music
    • Words >
      • The Watchman's Chair
      • A Sliver In The Sky
      • Ten Miles
      • City Of Love
      • KIDSONGS
    • TRAVEL CAJON (portable drum)
  • LESSONS
  • Calendar
  • Contact
  • BIO
  • Reviews
  • Notes from the road
  • pix and vids
  • OFF THE GRID JUDAISM

gratitude. every day.

11/23/2016

0 Comments

 
So okay. I admit that the election results still have me feeling a little beat up here.
As a Jewish, working-class lesbian living in a state whose electoral votes actually didn't matter a whole lot, I knew that mine would not be a deciding vote in this game. So perhaps I shouldn't feel so burned in the end.
But I am.
I am scared, and worried about all the uncertainty before me, and before our country.
Signs so far are not promising; the President-Elect is considering for his cabinet appointments people who lack governmental experience in the areas they're being picked to work in. Or they have a history of vocally wanting to do away with the very governmental department they're being asked to oversee.

All that will be waiting for me when I get home.
For now, I am in beautiful Northern California, celebrating Thanksgiving with my partner and her family. We are enjoying mellow days of conversation, board games and walks along the rugged coastline; and nights of pounding rainstorms on the roof. Tomorrow, we'll sit down to a Thanksgiving dinner where we'll take some time to recount our blessings of the past year.
For some folks, this may be the only time they consciously pause to consider such things on a regular basis.
I used to be that way myself, a long time ago when I was much younger and healthier and felt quasi-immortal.
Then, life happened. And I got older, Bones got broken, and so did my heart (more than once).
And when I came out the other side of all that, I realized that the fact that I'm still here may be the whole point. We get hurt, we get knocked about by life; and if we wake up the next morning then we have a lot to be thankful for, every new day.

So that led me to make gratitude a regular part of my personal daily stuff. I begin each morning with a thought of something I'm grateful for -- usually it's just waking up, but sometimes it's the purr of one of the cats or the smile on my Sweetie's face when we both open our eyes. Since consciously making gratitude a regular moment in my morning, I've found that my moods are a little bit better, and I am a little bit better equipped to start my day with a clear head. It's not much, but I'll take it.

I hope that this week gives us all some time to pause and reflect on the blessings of our lives.
And when the week is done and we all go back to work, I hope that we'll all find strength and renewed purpose to use our blessings to make a difference for someone else who could use a blessing or two themselves.

Happy Thanksgiving, and may we strengthen each other to do good in the world.
Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Beth

    Musings on this amazing journey through music, prayer and community, most of it accomplished while balancing on two wheels.

    Archives

    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013