Aligning with Grace

September has arrived, and we are slouching towards fall... I think of this, on my walk, as I examine the first of the leaves that have fallen from the trees, partially due to the drought conditions of this summer, but also partially due to the exhaustion these trees have experienced during the hottest summer on record... With the coming fall season we release the past season, ever mindful that it a time for both endings and new beginnings... Angeles Arriens, in her book, Living in Gratitude , writes about this time of year: "In September, we reenter our daily lives from a renewed place and move forward into full engagement. We are able to see more clearly our blessings and our learnings, and we experience the gratitude that naturally results. And we seek opportunities to bring our lives into congruence with the new perspectives we have gained..." It is also a time to recommit to goals, choices we may have abandoned or forgotten, and implement needed changes for the coming se...

In her book, Living in Gratitude: A Journey that Will Change Your Life , Angeles Arrien , notes that "February is the month when we consciously review what touches our hearts." It is after all, the month where we celebrate Valentine's Day . She shares this quote by Brother David Steindl-Rast: "The heart is where we belong. We belong there as to our proper place, no matter how estranged we have become. And we are there, we belong, because what makes home home is that each belongs to all and all to each..." And it is this sense of belonging, and being in the heart which is the way of love, and enables us to be more grateful. Just a few moments ago, I read this very appropriate quote by Paramahansa Yogananda: "To develop pure and unconditional love between husband and wife, parent and child, friend and friend, self and all, is the lesson we have come on earth to learn." Such a simple lesson, but not always an easy one to always embody - now is it? Pearl B...

Recently, I picked up the book Living in Gratitude: A Journey That Will Change Your Life , by Angeles Arrien . Marianne Williamson , one of my favorite authors, wrote the Forward. This is a practical book designed to enable you to cultivate the practice of gratitude throughout the year. Arrien begins her book with this often quoted pearl of wisdom by Meister Eckhart : "If the only prayer you say in your whole life is thank you, that would suffice." The introduction contains such rich and wonderful material that fed my themes and comments in my classes this past week. If you wish to increase your gratefulness a thousand-fold - or even just ten times, this is the book for you. Let me end by sharing some of the wonderful insights from the Introduction to this book... "Every language in the world has a way of saying 'thank you...' Gratitude crosses all boundaries... Gratitude is essentially the recognition of the unearned increments of value in one's experience.....