Gratitude for Being Stretched

     I just came home from a two week visit to mountains in New Mexico and Colorado. About mid trip, I noticed that I was exhausted each evening, and that it was the good kind.  I was being stretched in the direction of how much beauty can I take in today?  How many good, rich, nourishing human connections can I take?  How much good stuff can I handle?

    There was a time in my life when I wondered how much more pain can I take, how much more can I suffer through?  That was a very different kind of stretching, and I learned from it.  I am grateful for the lessons learned. 

     I am thankful today that the stretching is in the direction of beauty, joy, and good human connection.  I really like being tired at the end of the day from that kind of stretching, and I am aware that I couldn't have gotten here by myself.  

     When I stood on the mountain and looked out at the vastness, I felt humbled, in the good way.  It took good connections from many very special people to help me to see that it is okay to enjoy my Life, that good communion is possible, that I don't have to do it all by myself.  I am thankful that I listened to the nudges, that quiet voice inside, that I was willing to follow directions, and was able to notice how big Life is.  

Standing in Chaco Canyon, I noticed that the structures the ancient ones created were aligned with vastness.  In that world, the human aligns the forms of his life with that which lies beyond the horizon.  In our world, we make the natural world align with our own ideas of our self.  I noticed that I find more peace in myself when I align with that which is beyond my horizon.

     When I was a teenager, it wasn't cool to be happy.  Happy people were suspect.  It was thought they must be stupid  not to see how bad things are.  I am very grateful that I am now so uncool I'm Happy!