thinking about thankfulness

It comes around once a year as the earth begins to tilt away from the sun in the northern hemisphere; in Germany it's Erntedankfest; in other places in Europe it's Martinmas; in North America we call it Thanksgiving, but it all comes down to the same thing: a celebration of the earth's bounty. We eat, we drink (some of us more than others), and give thanks for what's on our table, but what does it really mean to be thankful?

The Oxford Dictionary says that being thankful means to feel grateful. I think that in order to feel grateful, we must first feel happy. Not the all-out-wine-party-every-day kind of happy. Sigh. It's more of a 'contentedness' happy. We have to be brave, face challenges, be humble; sometimes what will make us happy is not the thing that we think will make us happy.

These days, I am thankful for you.

Back in January I apprehensively typed my first posting here with mixed emotions. I really began writing a blog as something for myself. I saw this sitting to type as a way of creating some discipline for myself, both with the practice of writing, and as a way to keep my wine tasting structured. But still, I wondered as I pushed that 'publish post' button for the first time what I was getting myself into. Was this something I really wanted to do? And what if I made a spelling error; I worried about that. Surprisingly, showing up here a couple of times a week has brought me great contentedness and a sense of connection that I could not have imagined.

Thank you for taking the time from your busy days to grace my blog.

My friend Forbes, who has recently been travelling, sent me this Buddhist prayer and I thought I'd share it with you:

"earth, air, fire, water and space combined to make this food
countless beings gave their lives and labours that we may eat
let us nourish ourselves
that we may nourish life" 

Everyday is a day to be thankful (especially if we have good food and wine on our table).