Thankful

Greetings from the Northwest! Just back from the Road, about to head out for the last gigs of this year. This year has run out like water, hasn't it? Winter is on, rain or snow is coming down, Thanksgiving just behind us, and the darkest night of the year lies ahead, there in the midst of the lights, the gifts, the gathering together of family and friends. I hope all of you were able to gather with loved ones round the table, eat yourselves into a satisfied dither, and top it all off by feeling truly thankful. Off the top, I am grateful to love and be loved in return. Thanks for that.

Yevtushenko said: "The most beautiful aching work in the world is to be yourself." I am eternally thankful, may I say, for work to do which always furthers my soul and hopefully yours as well. The work of being ourselves is a life-long process, so don't despair if at first you don't seem to get it right! Every minute of every day, you can begin again. Find beauty in your necessary journey, pay attention, and find delight in all things. I find the more I pay attention, the greater my capacity for delight. The more I pay attention, the saner I feel. Survival lies in the safer shores of sanity.

There is so much craziness out there, masquerading as sanity (attacking people before they attack you!), and it makes us all feel crazy, crazy, crazy. How shall we stand it? Not, I think, by attacking others, not by feeling numb, not by running to a halt or going to sleep, not by going crazy, but rather by standing knee-deep in the flow of life and paying close attention. As difficult as it is, I am thankful to be awake...I am paying attention so much that I cannot fall easily asleep. It takes a bit of conscious work every night to climb into an inspired, deep-breathing slumber. Working consciously at everything makes such a difference in the everyday life. I know it's hard not to fall into depression, or cochiste, a malady familiar to the Astec, marked by sleeplessness and a lack of inspiration. I am thankful for inspiration and perspiration...the work of it all. I am inspired to become a better person. It's my life's work.

I am thankful to have beautiful work to do, to have a way to be in this world, and to have all of you in my life. Your love and support further me, nourish me and help to make me whole. I thank my lucky stars for my good girlfriend, my own dear family, the animals and the birds who give me simple joy...and the beautiful, fleeting feeling of Peace.