Consider for a minute that you are merely an organism on this planet. You are the result of every effect following another effect so far back that we cannot make out the fuzzy long distance image of what an original cause might have been. This moment you are experiencing right now is exactly what needs to happen and is what creates the moment you are experiencing now just seconds later. Imagine that there are countless timelines all moving forward and intersecting each other, with every person, every animal, every molecule experiencing a varied experience of the very same shared moment in history.

Life is so beautiful because of it’s diversity/difference and rich lush landscapes with one complex harmony of structures meeting another. The intricate network of nutrients in transit in the structure of a leaf sits against the cold lifeless concrete that’s been from the soil, to the factory, to the truck, laid down by a worker and has now seen thousands of these leaves live and die against it. When I slow down and think about the complexity of every object, every being, every aspect of my daily experience, I find that not only is the world inherently forever in motion and constantly changing but that each and every state of every thing is perfect.

Anne Kubitsky has a vision.  In a country with a tanking economy, a discouraging political situation, and escalating national protests, she has become a leader in the awakening of gratitude.  The ‘Look For The Good Project’ is a community art project that encourages people (like you!) to share little bits of what they are grateful for, via postcard, in an online art gallery.

“Why not offer people a chance to pause and reflect on something that

How did the rose

Ever open its heart

And give to this world

All it's beauty?

It felt the encouragement of Light

Against its being,

Otherwise,

We all remain

Too frightened.

- Hafiz

Some days I wonder how I will ever be able to fully offer to the world that which has been given to me.  I, like you, am gifted.  I know that if I were to open up, to sing my song to all who had ears to listen, I could heal the entire world, and set everything aflame with the primordial joy of being.

Yesterday I was cooped up in an office building all day, eyes glued to a computer screen. I told myself I would take breaks, and I did, but I didn’t take enough of them, and not the kind I needed. Getting some fresh air would have cleared my head, but when I get into the daze of a busy workday sometimes I forget to nurture myself. As it was, I emerged onto the Berkeley street at 5:00pm to a surprise - rain.  It had been summer-sunny all week and so the wet was startling, and--and this is interesting--almost immediately disappointing.
As I surveyed the soaked city street, negative thoughts streaked rapid-fire through my head: I don’t have rain gear!--I’m going to get soaked.--This is a terrible state of affairs.--Why didn’t I check the weather forecast?--It was stupid not to.--How will I make myself check the weather next time?--How will I get home right now?--Now I’m depressed.--Rain is depressing.--I shouldn’t have left sunny Santa Barbara.--I can’t live in Berkeley.
Holy smokes! A few drops of water had me questioning my longtime goal to live in the Bay! Notice how none of those thoughts--which all reverberated through my noggin in about a second and a half--were positive or uplifting. My ego, that chattering devil of the mind, had nothing good to say about the rain. But as I mounted my bike and began to brave the elements, I made a choice to flip a switch in my head. I was going to try an experiment--being grateful for the rain.
And I began to feel better, as these statements showed up in my consciousness: Rain nourishes the Earth.--This storm renews life.--I’m not too wet, and I’ll be inside, and dry, very soon.--This unexpected weather is exciting, different, fascinating.--The air smells so, so incredibly good.
I invite you to practice positive thinking in the face of the critical onslaught our minds are so good at creating. Next time you find yourself in a situation you can’t immediately change in a physical sense--maybe you’re wet, or cold, or crammed into a car for a long drive--acknowledge your outside circumstances, but then direct your attention to what you have to be grateful for, instead of only what’s going wrong. I could have focused on the discomfort of the droplets soaking through my clothes, but instead I put my attention on the invigorating aromas of a world thirsty for water.
You always have the power to notice and change your thoughts!

If you picked up a newspaper today, you would have seen headlines about Presidential candidates, the Occupy Wall Street movement, Facebook’s business deals, and an Israeli soldier about to be freed in Palestine. Beyond the front page, you might read about turmoil in the Slovakian government or Obama’s jobs bill. Most of these stories seem important and worth a read. But are they the most important stories of the day?                                             For some time now, scientists have been alerting us that Earth is facing a “sixth extinction,” meaning that in our lifetimes up to half of the species that currently live on our planet could be wiped out. The previous five extinctions, taking place over the 4 billion years the Earth has existed, are thought to have been caused by extreme events like meteors and volcanic activities. But the current mass extinction we’re going through is caused by humans; our pollution, destruction of habitat, and overpopulation are just a few ways we’re wiping out hundreds of plants and animals every single day.
Isn’t the prospect of losing forever creatures like the elephant, polar bear, and chimpanzee important enough to make the front pages of the paper, every single day? Why isn’t our national conversation dominated by how to save the honey bee (whose extinction would mean collapse of most ecosystems worldwide)? I’m not saying we shouldn’t be worried about our economy, that articles about endangered orangutans should replace quality information about the government’s plans to create jobs. But if we don’t work fast to learn about the crisis and to save species across the globe, the unemployment rate will be the least of our worries, since human survival depends on all the species that are now at risk.

If you’d like to learn about the Sixth Extinction, we’re pleased to announce that we’re holding a screening of a new documentary, Call of Life, which explores this topic. Watching this film might give you information and a perspective you will never get by watching or reading the daily news! The film not only looks at the crisis in biodiversity, but also the elements of human nature that have brought us to this point, and how we can change our thinking in order to reverse course.

Watch the Trailer below, and Join us in Berkeley on Thursday, 10/20!

There's a worm addicted to eating grape leaves.

Suddenly, he wakes up,

call it grace, whatever, something

Do you ever worry about someone you love?  I certainly do.  Sometimes I worry about myself, that my own future will not turn out the way I have planned it.  Other times, I worry about friends of mine, who seem to be making bad decisions and heading down the wrong roads.  In the past, I have worried about lovers leaving me, or not loving me the way I love them.  And just recently, I noticed that I also worry about my family, and dread that some of them might die before I get to spend more time with them.

Today, I would like to express my love of the burgeoning (that is the growing, blossoming, sprouting) Encyclopedia of Gratitude!  What began as a humble website, sporting something to be grateful for for each letter of the alphabet (from Abba to Zamboni) has come to be a crowd-sourced plethora (that is excess, or abundance) of gratitude!

Fancy words notwithstanding (or standing on their own, as they are also something to be grateful for), I would like to invite you to peruse the encyclopedia to find something that you have not yet thought of to be thankful for.  Or, if you find that your favorite flavor of gratitude is missing from the list, go ahead and submit it.  For instance, right now I am grateful for parenthesis, a grammatical tool that I have already overused in this entry. 

After you submit an item, your (or my ) entry could be included in the print version of the encyclopedia! Recently featured entries include:  Stevie Wonder (ambassador of love), Whipped Cream (and the people who whip it), and Hot Water (on demand... oh yeah).