Events & News (06/22/24)
Gratitude can change your world
The Saturday Spark
Tell us: What is one of the greatest obstacles to your practice of gratitude? (BONUS: How do you work with that obstacle to transmute it?)
Starting next month . . .
This newsletter (Events & News) will switch to a biweekly schedule. I’ll publish it every other Saturday instead of weekly.
The remodeling of The Raft continues during this major time of transition in my life and work. I hope you’ll like the changes. Stay tuned.
Release date announcement! Coming on September 4!
My new novel, The Singing Stick, will be released on September 4, the birthday of my son, Nathan! I’m thrilled!
In case you missed it . . .
Here’s the welcome gift you should have received when hopping aboard The Raft, just in case you missed it.
Here you go— poem of mine entitled “Random Notes from a River Raft,” formatted as a poster.
Catch up! (event replays)
Next week on The Raft . . .
Poetry Pick-Me-Up (Zoom, Thursday, 12-1PM Central). A casual weekly gathering for poetry-sharing, celebration, and discussion. Hop on the Zoom at this link. Bring a poem you like to read to the group. Or, just come to listen to poems offered by other Rafters and to participate as you’re comfortable in our informal but wholehearted conversation. Can’t make it? Watch for the video replay in this newsletter!
Grateful, grateful!
The Raft is my gift to you. I’m so glad you’re here!
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My heartfelt thanks to these Rafters who made contributions to the life of The Raft in the past week: Amy Adams, Deedee Buettner, Karen Hoffman, Deb Miller, Doreen Jari Thymian, and Gerald Underdal.
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Whew! That's all for now. Stay well. Stay witty. Stay tuned into your true spot and create from your radiant, beautiful self.
Gratitude has become more like a conscious choice than a feeling for me over the years. I’ve realized it’s not an emotion like fear or grief, which have physiological roots. It’s a choice to say yes, I accept what’s happened in my life, and I choose to be at peace with it.
The obstacles for me are resistance, which is my basic fear of change, which can then slip into resentment, where I get angry and blaming, wanting someone else to be responsible for what’s happened in my life.
I did a retreat with the great peace activist Joanna Macy. I had thought she would be someone motivated by outrage. But in her opening remarks she said the first thing we will work on is gratitude, which is about coming to terms with everything that has happened in our lives. If we can’t get there, we can’t be fully present in this moment, and in that case, she said, ‘you’re no good to me.’
That moment changed my life.
Loneliness gets in my way. Making an effort to connect with people helps especially if I can help them in some way.