Everyday Gratitude

Thank you Maria for bringing us back to the many, seemingly simple things we have to be grateful for each day! Dirty dishes, and soap bubbles…Yay! Perspective is a beautiful thing!

I was separated from family on Thursday, but full of Gratitude…for the can of soup in the cupboard, the pot and the stove to warm it, and the roof over my head! I have a backyard full of leaves, and 2 delightful dog friends to share it with! I am blessed indeed!
I realize this morning that the lady I crossed paths with yesterday, (learning that she is at the beginning of her Care Giving journey for her Mom with a new dementia diagnosis), is someone I can introduce to the Zentangle method as a source of joy and refreshment as she travels this new path. Zentangle has been a respite for me as I travel this tricky path with my Mom—learning that I must practice good self care in the midst of the madness…and orbs and mookas are good for my soul! Thank you Zentangle family!

I’m grateful for my husband of 50 years whose also my best friend and our 3 sons who who have grown into amazing men with families of there own now. Grateful we live in a country with freedoms so many others are denied. So many little things too numerous to list here but on that list is Zentangle. Discovered at a low point in my life and helped bring me back to all beautiful things in life.

I am grateful for this year. it was full of learning. I am grateful for my kids, for their lives and their own learnings too. I am grateful for my hands that allow me make nice things. I am grateful for every day of my life.

I am grateful for all the friends who are around me now and has provided the love that I would have never imagine getting. They turn me into who I am now and I am forever grateful to call them my family.

Thanks for the question, Maria!
This year has been a tough one for our family! My good husband Bobby has passed away. We shared nearly 50 years with him. He was the most loving man on earth, devoted to his family!
It’s hard to part with a loved one!
I thank God for giving me the opportunity to live these years with such a person who did not bow to any difficulty in life! Ah, you know that life is not easy!
Thank you for the memories you created and the faith you gave us!
Let’s not give up!
His last words were: – “Love and tolerance!” Love and forgive each other!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for the love, for the faith, for the humanity, for everything!
People, love each other and forgive your mistakes, because tomorrow can be different!Thanks for the question, Maria!
This year has been a tough one for our family! My good husband Bobby has passed away. We shared nearly 50 years with him. He was the most loving man on earth, devoted to his family!
It’s hard to part with a loved one!
I thank God for giving me the opportunity to live these years with such a person who did not bow to any difficulty in life! Ah, you know that life is not easy!
Thank you for the memories you created and the faith you gave us!
Let’s not give up!
His last words were: – “Love and tolerance!” Love and forgive each other!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for the love, for the faith, for the humanity, for everything!
People, love each other and forgive your mistakes, because tomorrow can be different!

Thanks for the question, Maria!
This year has been a tough one for our family! My good husband Bobby has passed away. We shared nearly 50 years with him. He was the most loving man on earth, devoted to his family!
It’s hard to part with a loved one!
I thank God for giving me the opportunity to live these years with such a person who did not bow to any difficulty in life! Ah, you know that life is not easy!
Thank you for the memories you created and the faith you gave us!
Let’s not give up!
His last words were: – “Love and tolerance!” Love and forgive each other!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for the love, for the faith, for the humanity, for everything!
People, love each other and forgive your mistakes, because tomorrow can be different!

I’m grateful that the sky above me is blue, and the air is clear. I’m grateful that I can still walk, see, draw. I’m grateful for heat in winter and coolness in summer. I’m grateful for wonderful relationships with my children, sons-in-law, and grandchildren. Oh so much! I’d better stop.

I am grateful for family living nearby. I am thankful for the Coastal Redwoods nearby… my favorite tree. I am thankful for Zentangle and look forward to learning more each week and teaching it to others. And, “I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.” (https://youtu.be/2a9Lam0rsnE?si=ejYVj8fW4L6WUvF0&t=10)
Thanksgiving can be celebrated in many ways, every day. Thank YOU!!

I am grateful for many things but front and center this thanksgiving is the ability to use (after a week of not) my indoor plumbing! After sewer failure, our plumber said he would have our toilet flushing in 3 days, by Wednesday evening.., they stayed late and got it done! Still a big hole in the yard until Monday but I can live with that.

At every Thanksgiving dinner, as we enjoy our lovely hot food, I ask those at the table to share with everyone just what they’re grateful for. Many years ago, when my now 21-year-old grandson was about 8, I asked him to go first. Without any hesitation, he announced he was grateful for electricity. We all stopped chewing and looked at him with amusement! He went on to explain ALL the things we rely on electricity for … and I was just so proud of him! :) Didn’t expect that from one so young.

I am grateful for that child as well as the other 3 who call me Gram. They make me feel young and loved and important. I’m a very lucky woman. <3

I’m grateful for the floor under my feet and, when I open the door, the sky over my head.

Sharing a sweet poem that I found

in the Boston Globe during the mid 60’s.
“Thank God for dirty dishes,
they have a tale to tell;
while many folk go hungry,
we’re eating very well.
With home and health and happiness,
I shouldn’t want to fuss,
for by this stack of evidence
the Lord’s been good to us
I pinned this near my kitchen sink for years,..
always grateful for each meal.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! ❤

Reading each touching, heartfelt post, I’m thankful for this way of reaching out and being touched by so many tanglers stories, thankful for gentle reminders of expressing gratitude in sharing thoughts through the world wide web (specifically through Zentangle). Deep gratitude for creative, inventive minds – y’all know who I’m referencing.

The new heat pump heater. For the past 1 1/2 years I’ve relied on my wood stove to heat the house & although I love my wood stove, it’s a lot of work to full time heat a house this way.

I am thankful that during a trying time in my life, my mother introduced me to the world of the Zentangle Method. What a wonderful and joyful gift that you, @ZentangleInc, have shared with the world.

Appreciate life and see the patterns in the world around us so we can occasionally escape into the world of Zen, breath and take life #OneStrokeAtATime

I’m grateful to be able to get out of bed every day. I’m slower now and there are more cricks, creaks and pops but so far I’m up on my feet every day which opens a world of possibilities with all I can choose to do.

Aside from that, your dirty dishes comment reminds me of a poem I memorized and recited in school. We didn’t have books of poetry in the house and this was before the Internet was a household tool so when I was tasked with learning and reciting a poem I was stuck. Then I looked at the decorative cutting boards on the kitchen wall. One said “Thank God for dirty dishes for they’ve a tale to tell. While others may go hungry we’re still eating well. With health and home and happiness we surely shouldn’t fuss. For by this stack of evidence God’s been good to us.” It’s close to sixty years now and I still remember that poem.

Happy day of gratitude!

I had 3 overwhelming events taking place at the same time this fall. I’m thankful for God’s grace, mercy and blessings that allowed me to navigate all of them simultaneously. (And “it ain’t over yet”!) Sometimes, things don’t go as I’d like but somehow I’m living through it all and everyday is a blessing in one way or another. Sometimes the blessing is just that we made it through and have a comfortable bed to rest and refresh in. Tomorrow is another day, hopefully. Zentangle helps me with little mini-vacations for my brain and my friends, students and colleagues in the Zentangle community are amazingly supportive. MaryAnn CZT #1

The comment above posted by “sailandbejoyful” says it all. “This morning I opened 2 gifts. They were my eyes”.

Wow. So many mornings I wake up grateful that I’ve been given another day, another season, another birthday.
I’ve seen 68 autumns and survived a pandemic. I have nothing to complain about and everything to be thankful
for.

Hi All, Thank you Maria,
I am grateful for the little ordinary things you listed. I am 84 years old and well I want to say I am not pitiful in any way, but. I live alone and don’t see many people. I love Zentangle, and I also love the videos! I am learning and I get to hear little conversations about what is happening or a story, it is all just great. Thank you, grace

I lost my daughter last year and I am grateful for each little happy memory that helps me in this ocean of sadness.

I have started a new tradition, for myself. Every morning with coffee in hand, or nearby, I step outside my back door and say out loud how grateful I am for anything that comes to mind, or what I see at the moment. A bird flitting by, the sunshine, or people in my life. Now that it’s getting chilly, I will continue but maybe on those REALLY cold mornings, I will settle for gazing out the window and expressing those sentiments. I want to remind myself that this is important and to do it every day!

It has been a terribly rough year and this post has me thinking. It could always be worse. I am greatful to have a job that helps pay some of the bills and a roof over my head.

I am grateful for the splendor of November, the crunch of the leaves the pattern of the bare trees against the sky. For family and friends and waking up each morning.

I was asked why I always seem happy even though I walk on stilts as a bilateral below knee amputee.( For 20 years). Reading this blog gave me the words I needed to express it. Thank you. I wake up grateful. I’m grateful I can fill my water bottle from the tap. I’m grateful I can drive my adapted car. I’m grateful I have my family to pick up things on the floor which I can’t pick up even with a grabber. In so many ways I’m grateful for the art and soul lessons I learn from Zentangle, teaching and learning from my students, and learning from you. I’m grateful for all the things that make up my life. Thank you.

I am thankful for so many things. Happy & Blessed!