However you celebrate this day – Thanksgiving – or even if you don’t, gratitude is an underlying superpower that can benefit our lives and its value stretches far wider than one day alone.

And yet, having a day like today is a great reminder, if we’ve forgotten the gifts that life on Earth does offer us, when the wild ride of experience sweeps us away into forgetting the presence of now.

I’ve shared this before, but I’ll share it again…

My gratitude practice has truly been one of the most valuable tools I have for instantly changing my experience. I love to think of things I’m grateful for when I wake up, to start the day, and when I go to bed, to put loving closure to it. And any time I find myself feeling anxiety or off balance I use my gratitude practice to shift me back into harmony and peace. Literally within seconds I can change how I feel and it’s worked wonders where other things like even breath work haven’t helped. I simply focus on things I’m grateful for and that space of anxiety is then filled because stress and worry can’t exist where gratitude is being held. I focus on both the gifts in my life that aren’t always recognized AND on things I may want more of stated as something I already have and am grateful for… this is a manifestation practice built into the gratitude as well. Part of that expansive gratitude practice is also about embodying what that feels like, as this really anchors it as truth. It’s all been a life changer for me.

There is so much kindness, hope, and love all around us if we align ourselves with these vibrations and choose to see the good in the world.

A recent walk we did through the forest was such a feast for my inner child eyes, finding a beautifully decorated little tree and painted rocks along the path.

We stopped to pick up some fallen ornaments that a recent wind and rain storm took down, placing them back in the sweet tree someone had adorned for others to enjoy.

A woman saw us and thanked us for decorating it, as she thought we had done that. She added that it brings her so much joy each year to see it. We told her it wasn’t us. We were just fixing it.

She was grateful for that too.

The exchange made it clear that little things like bringing beauty and thoughtful sparks of wonder to others, makes an impact.

We continued on and I started discovering sweet little painted rocks.

I only shared some of them, but we found about twenty placed along the trail. It was so fun to find them and I lit up each time to see what message or image they had to share. We ended up catching up to the young woman while she was hiding them. She was having so much fun placing them with great care and a smile. She had just finished the last ones and got in her car. I could see she was enjoying watching us find and read some after that.

Little acts of creative love go a long way in touching others at just the moment that can make a difference. I reflected, thinking about who else might find these and have their day and life shifted from one small act of giving from the heart.

It didn’t matter to these people that anyone knew who did these things. It was purely out of joy of sharing heart to heart.

We actually celebrated Thanksgiving early this year between Dave’s two eye surgeries he just completed yesterday, so that we knew he’d be up for things. He’s doing well – these have been long awaited cataract surgeries that involved getting two different and special, new kind of lenses – one for each eye to assist his sight – something he’s not had good for most of his life. So, it’s a big shift, with some more processes to go, but feels indicative of new vision for a brighter future that we’re all a part of in this new Aquarian Age we’ve ignited.

We enjoyed the warmth and fun with my family last Sunday – with mom and dad cooking and baking up their usual amazingness – and stayed the night so we could relax and spend even more quality time together. This is something that wasn’t possible when our fur babies were all with us still.

The house was filled with seasonal beauty, cozy closeness, and delicious smells not only from the amazing vegan comfort food my parent’s made us, but also the scrumptious scented candles that take you on a journey of the senses throughout the rooms.

This provided us a long evening of laughter-to-tears while Dave taught us how to play poker. We laughed so hard I…well I’ll spare you the details – but it was good ol’ belly laughs and fun.

Dave and I also took in an evening stroll around the neighborhood to walk off full tummies and make room for dessert.

We were greeted by a gorgeous, vibrant, and evolving sunset canvas, got to take in some of the already-Christmas decorated homes, were greeted by a giant cottontail rabbit (hard to see in the evening light under the bushes) next to a beautiful lighted tree, and found three nests along the way.

The rabbit had been sitting next to the Christmas tree, creating quite a magickal scene when we first walked up. Then she moved under the bushes and eventually leapt off to a backyard, allowing us to see those large thumpers and cute cottontail butt in action.

Each nest was different, but only this one, below, was gifted to me.

It was the sweetest of the three – so delicately woven and soft as can be. I think this family used some tufts of rabbit down they found to weave between the softened grasses, which makes it extra magickal!

There were even several dark red, tiny leaves attached to it. It will become part of my ever-growing nest mobile.

New life and dreams are being held space for within soft cradling and nurturing embrace. Other parts of life have moved on, but the cycles invite next waves to nestle into shore.

I love that this little nest is so tender, and yet so strong – it is woven with great resiliency, as you can’t pull it apart – and yet it’s light as a cloud.

We have continued to experience on and off snow here. Although the snow is melted around the house, it is sticking and building on the mountain tops and elevations above our 6600 home base, readying the slopes for ski season. The ski resort is open, but with only a few runs ready and Dave healing from his eye surgeries, we’ll be waiting to venture on up.

It’s that in-between-seasons-time where physical activities we like are mixed varied terrain while we await enough snow for snow shoeing and skiing. But we can still get in hikes until then and take in the shifting landscapes that provide equally cozy feelings to that of mom and dad’s home for the holidays.

Thank you to all of our friends and family for your connection, love, support, and friendship over the years. It means so much to us!

It’s a huge gift to feel your presence and to share this fertile time on Earth with you to cocreate experiences like we’ve never seen before.

If we can lean more into the kindness, love, creativity, and presence of this now moment, I feel like our energies will be well focused.

Your conscious awareness and anchoring of energies within is the greatest contribution of deepening reach and profound effect.

May this holiday season support greater connection to, and focus on, the things that matter most and may we carry the light of wonder throughout the days of our lives.