Thanksgiving

I began my day with a metta mediation, which is comprised of blessings for loving-kindness: "May I be blessed with love, may I be blessed with peace, may I be blessed with well-being." I extended this meditation to Christoph, then to each of our children, our granddaughter Juniper, our kids' partners, their parents and loved ones, my friends, their friends, and throughout the world to all beings. There is no need to name everyone in this meditation; the intention is to begin with oneself as the ground of blessing, and to extend the sense of blessing further and further out to a world in desperate need of compassion. I feel so much more connected to the world and its inhabitants when I take these few minutes to bring people to mind, and wish them well––even those with whom I disagree.

Mike's hosted this year's Thanksgiving meal. Christoph and I joined Mike and Karen, our nephews Justin and Coby, my brother Steve, his inlaws Ros and Bernie, and my nephew Matthew. We ate our way through delicious turkey, stuffing, sweet and mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, kale salad, string beans and cranberry sauce. Mike gave me a tutorial on setting up this website for blogging, and we did three loads of laundry. A full and satisfying day.