Today is Gratitude Day!

I am grateful for...

25. incense - I am burning Nag Champa at this very moment. I love its fragrance and, of course, its mood altering qualities. That's right - the resin actually has a mood altering compound; call me stupid but I only just found this out! :-) I always knew Nag Champa had an effect on me. I always knew it made me feel calmer and helped me to meditate. But I never stopped to think about HOW it did this. Again, call me stupid...

I just love the smell. And there is something mystical about the way the smoke rises too. This was something I tried to describe in a poem I wrote many years ago. Maybe I was under a resin-induced 'high' at the time! ;-) Decide for yourself -

Smoke rises, curling like
a mini twister.
Out of the incense it burns,
a fire flame
of bright white hue.

A torch leading upward
until an invisible breath
blows the flame
into a cyclical dance.

Little smoke e’s
spin and spiral
like carvings
on an ancient cave wall.

Puffs dive as stingrays
might glide through clear water.
Or dragons might sneak
across a night sky.

Smoke spirits ascend
high in seamless air
they twist, they fumble
like acrobats of the mystical.

Or prisoners released
from an incense hell.

26. clouds - not the rumbling gray ones that spew rain at us, but the wispy ones that make patterns in the sky. Remember when you were a kid and you lay down on the grass to watch the clouds go by? Even as I sit here now, gazing out my window at the white fluffies floating in the sky, I can recall the wonder of childhood - when everything, even everyday clouds, had the potential to amaze you.

27. fireflies - it might seem strange for me to include these little beetles on my gratitude list, but writing about clouds reminded me of them. I've only seen a firefly once in my life and it was last year during a trip to the US with my partner. It was summer and we'd taken an evening stroll after dinner. As dusk settled around us I saw these tiny charges of light bursting in mid air. I was mesmerised! I felt the glee of discovering something truely amazing and I was instantly transported back to childhood where everything in the world was new and powerful and full of surprise. For that short moment my adult mind stepped aside and I was able to view those little bursts of firefly light with innocent eyes.

28. forests - green scenery in nature makes my heart sing; its as simple as that.