SoooGrateful

November 30: Choose Gratitude, Anyway

Hope you get a chuckle from the headline.

As I wrote it, Sam decided to pee on the pillow
rather than walk into the bathroom and use the
toilet.  LOL. Brilliant metaphor to how I feel today.

It is Tech Week for "Miracle" - we have dress
rehearsal tonight and we are woefully behind schedule.

We open tomorrow - and I know we will pull
it off... I know all about trust, etc - and yet... there
is so much to do and so many little threads still
needing to be woven together...

And then last night as I was driving the girls
home before returning to the theatre, my car
decided to stop running.  AAA came and
got it and I dropped the girls off at
home and went back to the theatre... argh.

The set designer won't even talk to me. It is
so weird - and I talk to Roger about it and
still, I don't feel better. 

Last night I wanted to help with the set in any
way possible -  I wanted to help paint and I
got blown off but I did help
with other stuff around the theatre that needed
to get done but then they started to play really
loud, grating music and I completely and viscerally
"got" Emoto's work (about the water crystals in
our bodies) because as soon as it started,
my whole being shut down.

So now I am transportation-less, so a lot of
what I was going to do today I can't do,
unfortunately - but I can pray and I can trust
and I can do chores around the house
and write.  These are things I can do.  I can
love Sam even though he just peed on
a pillow (my favorite!)

I can choose gratitude, anyway.

Gratitude for my sweatshirt - ancient and a souvenir
of UOP.  It reminds me of Tom.

Gratitude for my fingers' ability to weave words
together on the page.

Gratitude for  my own "can-do" attitude

Gratitude for Kristina (I need to call and tell her that -
she has fallen off my radar!)

Gratitude for Wal-greens for selling $10 Santa Suits

Gratitude for the little bits of promise which pepper my day.

Gratitude for Natalie Goldberg

Gratitude that next week, we will have had one week
successfully behind us and will be hitting our stride.... one
of the great things about theatre is the time comes
and the time goes - it is like a freight train, full steam ahead... and
we make do with what we can do and the rest? We
learn to surrender, to trust, to stretch our abilities beyond
our expectations.

What are YOU grateful for today?

With Love,

Julie

Today is November 27 and I am SOOOO grateful!

Yes. Yes. YES!

1.  The "Miracle" stage management team - that even
makes wake up calls....

2.  Major League Improv for making me laugh - again
and again and again!

3.  Feste on Sondheim.com for his comment, "A lot happens
in Bakersfield...." and this is from someone in Los Angeles!

4.  The crisp, cold air and how it made my face
tingle when I was out walking with Hank and Buttercup
this morning.

5.  Morning pages! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

6.  Coffee.... and Katherine's cinnamon roles this morning.

7.  Train whistles

8.  Breakthrough week

9.  The privilege of creating...art....inspiration!

What are YOU grateful for today?

Today is November 25 and I am SOOOO grateful!

Today is November 25 and I am soooo grateful:

I am grateful I saw "Rent" yesterday... and I
loved it!

I am grateful for my continued commitment
(and follow through) with my morning pages
practice.

I am grateful for my creative process

I am grateful for coffee

I am grateful for my daughters

I am grateful for warm socks

I am grateful for my walk with Hank
and Buttercup this morning

I am grateful that I was able to hear
my favorite bird call this morning
on that walk.

I am grateful that I discovered a
tremendous source for Santa suits!!!

I am SOOOO grateful!

What are YOU grateful for today?

Today is THANKSGIVING! And I am SOOOOOO grateful!

Today, November 24 I am sooooo grateful for.....

Boxes of chocolate

The cast/crew of Miracle on 34th Street (we open
a week from today!)

A couple days ahead with all my children around
me - YES!

Hank-the-carpenter-set-builder-helper of Danny

The dancing in 42nd Street... amazing

Hank-the-dog-sleeping-at-my-feet

Another day of morning pages - collected, written
downloaded and loved....

What are YOU grateful for today?

Today is November 19 and I am sooooo grateful!

I am grateful for Borders allowing us to wrap and also
to do our play preview

I am grateful for KBAK, we are booked onn 12/1 on their
show and Claudia now sees me as a "quality guest provider:
which is an EXCELLENT thing.

I am grateful to be sleepy because it means I am active.

I am grateful for warm, wooly socks.

I am grateful for coffee and nice mugs that fit into my
hand as if sculpted by my own personal potter.

I am grateful Emma had a good time at the Lock in last
night and feels even better about her part in the
Christmas Pageant.

I am grateful for Julia Cameron and morning pages and
finding "Vein of Gold" on the bargain books shelf!

I am grateful for the Cybernation quote source page.

I am SOOOOOO grateful!

What are YOU grateful for today?

Today is November 16 and I am so grateful for....

Dana Bryan and Saige, especially for taking Emma
and Katherine home last night.

John Fowler for purely being Kris Kringle in
disguise as John Fowler

My pencils and notebook

My washing machine

Train whistles (Hi, Grandpa!)

Clear, Cool air

Noble Elementary School

Patience

Beloved Friends......

DreamActivation!

What are YOU grateful for today?

Today is November 13 and I am sooooo grateful!

The opening of "Over the River"... the commitments keep
falling away leaving more space....hooray!

Waking up early on a Sunday morning and having everyone
else sleep in, even Hank and Buttercup - so I can have
some precious, cherished moments alone in quiet.

The incredible cast of "Miracle on 34th St"

The Dutch recordings Roger made for Emma and John so
that they can practice their lines and get them as close
to "spot on" as possible.

My blogs, so that I can upload all this miscellaneous stuff
and create resources "on the fly" for my cast and students, etc!

Dan

Coffee

A growing acceptance of Self-Wonder... Not sure how else
to phrase that one... different from self-love... Self Wonder.
I like that.......

Today is November 10, 2005 and I am so grateful....

Coffee

A warm shower

Pink lined paper

Buttercup's resilience

Quiet in the morning

White canvas

Solid, clear choices

New Beginnings

The commitment I am experiencing from the actors in "Miracle"

Fond memories from this time last year in "Farndale"

Today is November 9 and I am sooooo grateful... what are YOU grateful for today?

Today is November 9 and I am so grateful for....

1.  Feeling better on about a bajillion plus levels

2.  The cast of "Miracle" - we did a successful
run through of Act 1!

3.  I finally learned how to Text Message - WOW!
(Will now be known as my first quasi-successful
message sent via text!)

4.  The glorious blue sky this morning - clear and
crisp.

5.  My relatively open morning - only a few tasks to
complete... nice change of pace (luscious!)

6.  Coffee

7.  Kahlil Gibran's work

8.  Haiku

9.  Emma's boundless creativity

10.  Katherine's sweet wisdom

11.  Samuel's stubborn streak

12.  My computer and Ott of GeekRescue, to
whom I made my first referral (of many!) yesterday.

What are YOU grateful for today?

Sharing Your Gratitude Lists Here May Mean Transcendence for Someone Else....

I posted a gratitude list yesterday after having a particular rough time of it.... and almost immediately a friend of mine posted her gratitude list in response. I read it hungrily – someone someone someone else had read my list and was responding in kind.

I wasn't expecting a transcendent moment from simply reading someone else's gratitude, but here is what happened.

I sat and read the words, a gentle smile turning up the corners of my lips.

My heart expanded.

I felt a giggle burst from my belly to my throat and immediately I was a six-year-old girl wearing a shiny party dress with shiny shoes.  I spun in happy circles, thinking I was the prettiest, happiest, luckiest little girl alive.

I noticed my anklets, adorned with ruffles, and felt my arms extend – a ballerina celebrating breath itself.

The little-girl-me laughed again, gathering the sacred moment into my skin as she realized she is holding her chin just a little bit higher and is sitting just a little bit straighter and the gnawing longing she felt before is no longer present in her being.

Once again I am the fully-grown-me, sitting at my desk, reading someone else’s gratitude list. I had tuned into contentment with clarity, depth and spiritual connection.

Ahhhhhhhh, yes. It was purely the experience of passionate gratitude.