What's on my Mind

12/15/09

I love getting the updates and letters that accompany holiday cards! It’s always like glue that binds us together. So, in the spirit of staying connected, here are some of the things you might find in my holiday card (if only I had time to be that organized and productive!)

This year, we said goodbye to Mikey - truly one of the world’s greatest dogs! We loved him well, and he knew it.

Our family has survived a re-organization and managed to love each other through each new chapter. As we have turned the page on our lives, we see that the love is always there, no matter how it is distributed.

I’m so grateful to my kids for allowing me to make mistakes, for lifting my spirits and for always giving me the evidence I need that love is a forever thing, and it survives whatever assaults and attacks we can mount.

Every day, I hope and pray and wish and dream for and about my children. I always wonder if they are learning all they need to know from me and if I am giving them the right lessons and values. Invariably I will see a choice they make, watch them stand up for the little guy, see how they put their hearts into action or how hard they try and I get my answers… Somehow, the three of them are developing into phenomenal human beings. They are my wishes that came true!

We are all about WISHES around here. My friend Tricia LaVoice is the one who introduced me to the power of consistently writing them down (her wishes are so beautiful and so special). A wish is a beautifully simple thing. Anyone can do it, at any age, anytime, anywhere in the world. You can wish for things to be different or better. You can wish for more time, more money, more love…a better figure, better health, or better places to live.

I think the real power of a wish is that it takes no forethought, no planning. Children have always known this truth. When we closed our eyes as kids and blew on a dandelion, we saw those seeds scatter to all corners of our world.

I believe it’s all about where you put your attention and how we use our intention. Wishes made for or about someone else hold a special kind of magic. These are the yearnings of our heart’s desire; they express our soul print and our innate knowledge of how we are all connected to each other.

There are so many ways that I am connected to each of you who visits this site. I am so grateful for your support and kindness. During this season of gratitude, I wish for you all the treasures your heart can hold.

Each year, my kids and I write letters to each other to express how thankful we are. The thoughts we hold in our hearts are sometimes too big to stay contained there, so we write them down and read them aloud to each other.

This year my gratitude letter is in the form of a wish for the people I hold dear to me…I share it with you here:

My Gratitude Letter

I wish for you an endless supply of optimism;
a way to find shooting stars, dandelions, four leaf clovers and
pots of gold in every situation...all of it summoned in a moment’s notice.

I wish for you, days with nothing to do and nowhere to go;
being perfectly peaceful without an objective or an agenda.
And I wish for you days jammed with people and purpose;
being wonderful expectant as you make your “to do “ list ever longer.

I wish for you a chance to change the world and make a difference;
and a chance to be changed by the world and to make peace
with knowing that some things will never change.

I wish for you the gifts that come from failing and from seeing the frailties
in our own humanity when we fall short of our goals. For it is only then that
we can celebrate our successes and the victories that are sweeter
because they don’t arrive effortlessly.

I wish for you the love of another so strong that you can occasionally be weak;
a love that protects your heart with so much safety, you can afford to keep it open
and receive all the blessings that sometimes elude us
when we don’t feel secure enough to be who we really are.

I wish for you a chance to be productive, to feel needed…
I hope you will work so hard and care so much that at the end of the day
you are blissfully depleted and yet filled to overflowing with the kind of satisfaction
that only comes from knowing you have done your best.

I wish for you intimate faith that the way you live forever is through the lives you
touch and the way you love. The memories that we leave behind create a soul print
so unique the world will never be the same because we were here.

I wish for you a constant stream of time shared with friends and family
basking in support and gratitude…moments that rest easily in your heart
and are retrieved whenever we need a gentle reminder
that our lives matter and we are not alone.

- Leeza Gibbons
2009