Gratitude Arises

We’ve entered the season of gratitude and travel and holiday gatherings and bad weather and family time. Too often this season passes me by without taking the time to appreciate the wonderful moments amidst the chaos and expectations. This week I was struck by this excerpt from poet David Whyte:

“Gratitude is not a passive response to something we have been given, gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without us.”

Gratitude arises from paying attention. It doesn’t just exist in that moment where you go around the table and share what you’re thankful for. It arises in the everyday when we start to notice the bounty that comes from inside our own bodies and surround us in nature on this earth.

So as I head to Chicago for a training at the end of this week and then up north to Wisconsin to see family, I’m trying to pay more attention, check my inbox less, and enjoy the gift of communion with other living beings.

A gentle reminder: movement classes are a great place to practice paying attention in the moment. Peep this week’s schedule below and once I return from this quick trip I’ll be teaching in LA through the duration of the holiday season.