gratitude Archives - saxtonstudio blog

November 24, 2016 In appreciation, art By Patricia Saxton

Thanksgiving Grace

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It’ll be Thanksgiving Day when this posts, and I hope everyone has a beautiful time of it, with bellies and hearts full.

Some tables will be overflowing, some spare – but wherever we are, the sentiment of gratitude is worth treasuring. It’s good to pause and reflect, and give thanks for our blessings, for the people we love, the gifts we have – as well as for the soil that allows our food to grow; for the sun and rain and wind, for the workers who oversee the crops, the delivery people and stock-the-shelves people and checkout people; the plates we serve our meals upon; the sweaters that keep us warm; the crews that keep our roads safe to travel and the neighbor who lends that last-minute package of spinach you need.

I’d have to add chocolate to my list, and tea, of course. And music and paint and pencils and the magic of creativity. And the coach who pushed me harder; the teacher who encouraged my best work; the stranger who made me smile on an especially bad day. For people who’ve laughed at my jokes, and those who showed me lovely things about myself that I didn’t see, and even those who made me see things I didn’t want to see or feel things I didn’t want to feel, because all of that, it turns out, builds character worth having. And if life is indeed a bowl of cherries (I’m not sure who came up with that one, or why, but we’ll go with it), we’d be well to appreciate the shiny parts as well as the pits, as one would not be so without the other.

Gratitude has no bounds, but today’s a perfect day to be extra thankful – and to send out a wish that yours will be filled with goodness and grace.

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February 16, 2016 In appreciation, life and the universe, poetry By Patricia Saxton

To Know Leona

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I loved her first because she loved my little girl. She loved her like her own. She sometimes spoke to her in French, and she called her Littlefoot, like the character in “The Land Before Time”. They were a good team, Nanna and Littlefoot.

I loved her next because her heart was real and true; her spirit as big as the sky.

We drank tea with herbs from the garden. We laughed from our bellies. We lit candles and watched the moon. We spoke of dreams. I helped heal her ankle. She helped heal my heart. I loved her language. She loved my paintings and my rice casserole. And she loved my little girl, who loved her back.

She was the mother of mothers to all in her care. Loving. Fearless. Brave. Blessings flowed from her lips like divine poetry. (Receiving a birthday wish from Leona was pretty much a religious experience.) She loved to dance. She carried too much on her shoulders. This world will miss her dearly.

She was magic. And fire.
Caribbean eyes.
Voodoo in her blood.
Gold in her heart.

She walked with angels –
Now she flies among them.

Thank you Leona, for your beautiful love and care. It was an honor to walk some of this earth with you.

November 22, 2015 In appreciation, art, design, graphic design, inspiration, life and the universe, optimism, philosophy, photography By Patricia Saxton

The Gratitude Jar

The other day I was inches away from getting creamed while driving through a green light. Another driver came whizzing through a red light at the exact time I was crossing. (Insert: life flashes before eyes.) Shock and impulse took over as I slammed on the brakes. Had l arrived at that spot just a second earlier, I’d not be writing this. It was way too close a call, and once my heart rate went back down, I was thanking my Angels and feeling overcome with gratitude for both the timing and my car’s brakes. (It also reminded me that we should always be a little more cautious on the road than we might think we need to be.) And I thought, well, this’ll be an easy one for my gratitude jar – which, I then realized, I’d neglected for a while.

It began a few years ago – although I’m sure some of you had the idea before I did – the filling of a jar with slips of paper on which we’d scribble the things we were grateful for. (If you haven’t done it, I’ll tell you that just the act of writing down what you’re grateful for feels good.) It can be a daily exercise or as the spirit moves. Sometimes they pile up in one sitting. Anyway, we’d start on New Year’s Day, then empty the jar and read all our notes the following New Year’s Day – and smile a lot – then start again.

This year I thought I’d start a jar for the holiday season – a time we expect to feel gratitude, but in reality can feel exceptionally stressed. It also feels like a particularly murky time out there in the world; people often pick up on that vibe (consciously or unconsciously), making us feel even more ornery. Actively “being grateful” can do wonders to help. It takes just a few minutes and costs nothing, but the benefits are strong, well-researched and well-documented, including things (you may already know) like improved physical, mental and psychological health, higher self-esteem, better sleep and better relationships. All good stuff. Funny how we so easily forget this simple but powerful tool.

With Thanksgiving this week, the timing seems ideal to start fresh. And this time, I’m inviting you to join me – by doing your own, or by helping to fill a virtual gratitude jar. I’ll be opening it up to the public on my facebook pages*, now through January 1, and who knows, maybe there’ll be a great response and a wave of human gratitude can spread far and wide, rippling farther and wider again and again. And wouldn’t that be something to be grateful for.

What are you grateful for today? There’s always something. Grab it, jot it down, try to make it a habit. Feel free to share. Let’s do this.

Oh, and thank you. 🙂

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facebook: Patricia Saxton / Saxton Studio and 52 Weeks of Peace

November 27, 2014 In appreciation, art, design, inspiration By Patricia Saxton

A Humble Thanksgiving

One more for this season of gratitude… I think I had my Dad in mind when I made this simple poster. The wheat reminded me of his upbringing, a time when they lived off the land ~ worked from sunup to sundown, ate the crops they grew, made butter and cream and drank the milk from their cows, had appreciation for a good harvest. Nature was kind or troublesome from year to year, but they never went hungry (something to do with my Grandmother being a good cook?!). There were some very hard years, yet he claimed they never “wanted” for anything. An orange for Christmas, some hand-knitted socks. He never lost his humility, love for land nor respect for its bounty. There was a lot to learn from that.

May we all be grateful for our blessings.

November 26, 2014 In appreciation, art, fine art, life and the universe, poetry By Patricia Saxton

Grateful

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They say the only two things you can count on in life are death and taxes. And I suppose there’s some truth to that. But there are other things; things that cost nothing, take nothing, and give much; things deserving of steady gratitude. They’re simple, and yet somehow grand in how they make life more bearable; they make life sweeter. Here are some of those things for me:

The sunrise
that never fails,
And evening skies
with orange trails,
Moss beneath a tree, and
Cathedrals made of leaves.

Children laughing,
Lovers dancing,
Birds announcing dawn.

Poetry and paint,
Seasons and songs, and
Boundless African skies.

Breezes made of lilac,
And honeysuckle,
And great rolling seas,
And angels’ whispers,
And dragons’ wings
That flap against the clouds.

Kind familiar friends,
And hands that hold,
Bodies that heal,
Minds that imagine,
Spirits that soar,
And the grace
Of hearts that love.

– P.Saxton

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought;
and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” ~ G.K. Chesterton

May 26, 2014 In appreciation, art, creativity, design By Patricia Saxton

Memorial Day (A Plethora of P’s / #23: Principles)

“Who kept the faith and fought the fight; The glory theirs, the duty ours.” ~Wallace Bruce

– ♥ –

This one bears repeating….so, as last year, and the year before, we thank you and we honor you ~ all the fallen ~ for your bravery, your love, your principled, unselfish courage ~ from the wells of our hearts, with a gratitude that knows no bounds.

……………………

Memorial Day

April 19, 2014 In art, design, life and the universe, peace, philosophy By Patricia Saxton

A Moveable Feast (of Eggs, Baskets and Bunnies)

Way back in the year 325 AD, it was decreed by First Council of Nicaea that Easter would fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the March equinox. As a result, there is no fixed date, but rather a “moveable” one for this high Christian holiday.

And I imagine it’s considered a moveable “feast” because the holiday season is actually quite long, when you take into account the observances of the 40 days of Lent, Holy Thursday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter itself, followed by a fifty-day period of Eastertide, ending with Pentecost Sunday. Interesting.

Also interesting is the fact that Easter and Passover not only coincide, but in many languages the word for Easter and Passover are the same or similar. While the reason for celebration differs, the timing and some of the symbolisms share a curious resemblance.

The plot thickens when one recalls the Pagan holiday of Ostara, held at the spring equinox in celebration of the seasons changing from dark to light, from winter to spring. Ostara, or Eostre, is an Anglo-Saxon goddess representing the dawn, whose role is to watch over the fertility of the earth and the emergence of new life. Today’s word Easter derives from the old English word Eostre.

I find it all kind of fascinating. How religious holidays often overlap, interweave, intersect. Like a great big message from the universe to be good, to appreciate, to love, expressed in different ways within different cultures, but all with powerful interpretations. So that you can’t miss it; you’ve got to take note.

However you see it, however you experience this time of year, its roots are deeply spiritual the world over, and the symbolisms of lamb, chicks, bunnies, and baskets filled with sweets and colorful eggs all represent the promise of rebirth, renewal, liberation, resurrection, festivity.

However you celebrate, it’s a time worthy of honor and respect, reflection and gratitude. So feast well and be joyful. Happy Easter!

December 23, 2013 In appreciation, art, creativity, inspiration, intelligence, life and the universe, photography By Patricia Saxton

Fill it with Gratitude

There’s a lot of emphasis on commercialism during the holiday season ~ not that we’re intentionally insensitive to the meaning of Christmas or that we’re shallow, materialistic creatures, but that we want to give.

We want to make others happy with our gifts, we want our children to squeal with delight, our family and friends to appreciate the thoughtfulness of a special something we’ve picked out especially for them. It’s actually a lovely tradition begun with a certain three kings bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, just perhaps gone a little wild.

With that in mind, I’m feeling pretty pleased with my choice of “gift” for the guests of my annual holiday gathering this year. My daughter and I started our own gratitude jars a little less than a year ago (it’s almost time to open them up and look inside!), and I thought, hmmm… yes, a perfect gift to make for our friends. Homemade, fun and constructive to boot.

I like imagining how they’ll be filled, all those pieces of folded-up paper with notes scrawled about people, things and moments they’ll be grateful for during the year ahead.

It’s a fairly well-respected concept that gratitude reaps harmony; it elevates our spirit and sense of inner peace, opens the gates for greater abundance. I’m pretty sure all that might even be scientifically based ~ something physiological happens that changes our chemical makeup in a positive way. But whether it is or isn’t a precisely proven fact, one thing I know for sure is that genuine appreciation and feelings of gratitude are uplifting. That writing them down makes the vibration linger longer, and re-reading them allows you to feel grateful all over again.

There’s only good to be had from this simple exercise. And as it’s been said, “There is always, always, something to be grateful for.”

So I hope they use their little jars, well and often. : )

November 28, 2013 In appreciation By Patricia Saxton

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving ~ our very American holiday of feasting; a day with the sole purpose of being thankful for our blessings; a tradition with roots of gratitude that has managed, beautifully, to evade the trappings of modern commercialism. One day to simply appreciate what we have; nothing more.

They come in all forms, these gifts ~ they come as our families, our friends, our health, the ground beneath our feet, the roof over head, blankets to keep us warm, the abundance of this Good Earth we share; for land that lets us turn corn into deliciously simple muffins or set a table of lavish sustenance. And it comes as freedom. Because freedom is breath and possibility. Freedom gives us earthly wings to follow our dreams, and that is no small blessing.

So eat, drink, be grateful…… Happy Thanksgiving to you!