Gratitudinousness – What I am Thankful for Today and Always

Gratitudinousness.  It’s one of my favorite conjured words. And it really works in that gratitude is such a BIG concept…I think it kinda needs more greedy letters 🙂

“We don’t need more to be thankful for, we might just need to be more thankful.” Unknown

Many who know me in my life and on Twitter and other social media channels, know that for me, gratitude is a religion; a practice.  But isn’t it nice that we have a holiday set out to ponder our bountifulness and abundance? Not to mention gorge ourselves gratefully on gargantuan meals!?

Paella in Seville, Spain

I am SuuperG on Twitter.  And I like to be SuuperGrateful at this time as well as always, but I love having a blog so I can share a few – I mean a teensy few – of the things I am grateful for.  Thank you, loyal and supportive readers, for visiting today and any day…See? I started in my gratitudinousness already 😉

I am grateful for the earth, under my feet:

Trail gifts

I am grateful for those same feet that propel me through this earth, whether dancing, hiking or traipsing around the globe:

My feet - photo by Elena Rego

I am grateful for The Turk, my current feline companion and constant reminder of my imperfections 😉 and I am grateful, too, for those beloved preciousnesses who have graced my days and reside still in my heart…

My beloved Paloma, photo by Frank Bruynbroek

I am grateful for my eyes (and my iPhone!) to capture and savor and sigh at the lovely sights I am constantly barraged with:

Sunset over the Potomac, Washington, DC

I am grateful for my ears, which allow me to listen to the music that is a backdrop for my life, my dance and my moods: ♪♫••*¨*Check out my own DJ stream here *¨*••♫♪

I am grateful for freedom.  A blessing one should never take for granted.  I celebrate freedom in a personal sense as well as a national sense.  Call us a bunch of goombahs here in America…but we are free to make our sometimes ridiculous choices.  And for that, I am forever grateful.

I am grateful for food – glorious, delicious, nourishing, bountiful and beautiful food – which feeds my palate, my body and my spirit:

Avocado, citrus salad with hearts of palm

I am grateful for the venues with which to share my passions, here, on the phone, on Twitter and Facebook, at Cafe Aroma, via email, with friends, with my beloved family, with strangers in my travels:

I am uber grateful for friends and family who support me in my triumphs and remind me of them during my falterings – and who love me for my “humanness” and teach me constantly how to be a better friend, by their own example:

Me and my girly friends, beating batter

I am grateful for my knowledge that I am still and will always keep learning.  That my unfinishedness is the very aspect of me and of everyone that fosters the idea of compassion, charity, tolerance and allowing.

I am happy to be healthy.  Mentally…eh…that’s questionable 😉 but I am learning more and more to listen to my body and it’s needs (not just wants! pasta pasta pasta) and it rewards me with the vigor to push through all kinds of challenges, be they mountain hiking or life changings:

Hiking and birding in New Zealand

I am grateful for snow. Life-giving, adventure-providing, beautifying snow.  It sparkles dazzlingly  under both sunlight and moonlight. It cushions your footfall and makes a wonderful, wilderness crunch.

My family and a snow ball fight - what more to be grateful for?

I am grateful for dance…literally and metaphorically. It has brought so much goodness in my life, in friends, music, passion, health, elaborate and wonderful costuming! and more awesome music:

Me and my bellydance troupe

I am grateful for my trusty Prius...which, actually, affords me so much cherished freedom.  I hit the road on a whim and have little “gas anxiety” OK – you can snicker at that one. I’ll allow it 😉

I am grateful for nature.  How nice that she is always there.  Gifting me.  Warming me with her sunshine. Making me shiver and gaze at her moonlight in awe.  Pounding the coastlines with infinite waves or trickling sweet whispers to me along the trails. Always keeping me company on my hikes.  Thundering above and cradling below. She is a part of me. She is my otha mutha.

Nature is pretty bold and flaunt-y in the Dolomites

I am grateful for moonlight hikes, chocolate, flirting, horseback rides, laughter, skiing, coffee, jumbo jets that take me to new places, sleep overs, inspiration, roller coasters, prose, family, s’mores, kayaking, Italian shoes, French cheese, passion, mojitos, bon fires, gelato…Shout wipes (notice how these came right after gelato), the abundance of beautiful, loving and inspirational people around me (and those who have come and gone), hiking…band-aids, cashmere, Adele, my iPhone, mistakes that hurt at first but heal stronger later, good moisturizer, peonies, not-so skinny dipping, retweets, sand under bare feet, indoor plumbing, incense, and laughter…did I say that already?

And I am grateful for where I currently reside, Idyllwild, California.  A place where I can indulge in so many of my favorite pursuits listed above.  A paradise in itself, and a jumping off point for my travels.  A home that is always a delight to return to, both for it’s natural beauty and for my fellow residents, the Idyllwildones.

Paul and me after belly dancing at Cafe Aroma

Moonrise over Idyllwild, full moon hike

Me and Riffy

Kayaking Lake Powell

And finally, I am grateful for – work with me here – my overall sense of  gratitude and wonder, which enable me to value and cherish the seemingly mundane, and to celebrate beauty in so much around me that could so easily be missed:

Thank you for reading me.  Please feel free to share your joyful gratitudinousness with me and my readers.  Let’s do some love mongering!

Thank you…grazie…merci…namaste

Most photos by Gina Stark

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