Okay first lets acknowledge that is isn't het the first of the month and I have chosen, recorded and now writting about September's mantra. I have been making a practice of noting my gratitude again this month. Part as a reminder to be present to what is actually happen, to remember my blessings and to occupy a place of contentement. Santosha. This is a practice I started in earnest a littlet less than 6 years ago. After my brain hemorrhage it would have been easy to drop into self pity and grief. I would allow myself to grieve my loss but was also cognizant of how lucky I was. There were many in the reahabilitation ward that might never go home to there families. I knew I was lucky. My personality was very much the same. As the fog cleared over the next few, well, years really, I felt more and more like myself.
Around the one year mark when I was very much grieving what I had lost, I literally set an alarm on my phone to go off at 9, 1, and 5. I would list 3 things in the moment I was grateful for. Usually small. I've revisited that practice this summer checking in as I sit to eat. It feels much easier now and less the obvious rote things. I am grateful for my practice and growth. I am grateful for my husband who has proven over and over again how much he understands and loves me. I am grateful for the way the sunlitght hits things as it sets. I am grateful for my daily walks. I am grateful for a future I am looking forward to.
Every time it brings back to now. What is happening now. Now it is warm outside, my husband is out fishing, and I am enjoying the view from the deck. I love the sound of the eagles that nest near by. I get a text from my parents and I am grateful they are still healtthy and I get to know them as humans and not just my parnets. I am grateful for the friends and community I have made in the last 6 years. People that if I was working still I might never have met. I am grateful for the people I have met out here at the lake who have made a point of knowing my name, saying hello, remembering my story and offering help. Human connection.
So this is your invitiation to find your own santosha this month as many people swing back into routine. Check in as you wake and as you go to bed What are you grateful for right in that moment. Maybe clean sheets, maybe a converstation with a stranger you had. Be aware of the everyday blessings that happend aroudn you. When you tune in even little things feel miraculous.
This month we chant
Kritajna Hum (kit-ah-nah hum)
My true self is always grateful. I am connected to everything. We are all atoms and the same cosmic stuff. What a blessing to live on this goldilocks planet in this meatsuit.
You can hear me chant it 108 times here.
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