daily deelite

Also, faith is born of gratitude. The grateful mind continually expects good things, and expectation becomes faith. The reaction of gratitude upon one's own mind produces faith; and every outgoing wave of grateful thanksgiving increases faith. He who has no feeling of gratitude cannot long retain a living faith; and without a living faith you cannot get rich by the creative method...

It is necessary, then, to cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you; and to give thanks continuously.

And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.
--Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich pg 49

1. remember that charming young gentleman i've mentioned previously? it might be safe to say he warrants initials here on iGoddess. so he's *cr*, and he and i made enchiladas last night. i showed him the way i learned, and dinner was a fantastic hit. every once in a while i'll go back and make some favorite dish i grew up with, since i don't cook so often anymore (to my private lamentations) and i just love the flavors of my childhood. i really do. i am so grateful to my bio-mom for teaching me how to cook from the time i was seven. i love the authentic flavors of my chicana childhood.

2. i'm grateful for the gorgeous, soothing, cleansing rain. we'd been having glorious heat and i really did appreciate it, but with the cooler breezes and rain, i realize this morning just how much i really do love it up here now, and how i've become friends with the portland weather. i was happy to see it raining!

3. i'm grateful to myself, for having the courage and faith to start my business. just this afternoon i had someone in the portland metro call me up in answer to one of my ads on craigslist. it had to be the most fantastic business call i've had to date. and *ds* was there listening to all of it, and when i hung up, she told me i sounded so confident, and i knew that i'd nailed it. whether or not i have a new customer/business partner, i know it was a perfect phone call.

i know i can do this, and i know i'll succeed. i know it like i know the sun's coming up in the east tomorrow.

4. i'm grateful to Asphalta, Goddess of the Road (friends of mine came up with that goddess years ago, and she's quite open to her devotees, lol). i pray to her when i'm in a crowded parking lot: "Asphalta, Asphalta, look around. There's a parking spot that can't be found!" and she always comes through for me. but this time, my gratitude stems more from finding out the Funkmobile isn't in as bad a shape as i thought. my brakes are fabulous, and mechanically speaking, she's a kickass little car. especially for having 240,000 miles on her. the only thing she needs is new struts in the back, because they're cracking apart severely. but that can be taken care of with about four hundred bucks. that's less than one sale for me. less than half. so thank you, Asphalta!

5. i'm grateful for peaceful, rainy afternoons with hot tea, purring kitties, and pandora.com playing sarah mclachlan, tori amos, norah jones, and michelle branch. if you go to my profile, you can listen to my stations. "wine & candlelight radio" is the soothing female station, and my "cider n' summer nights radio" is the station with the male singers, like damien rice, jack johnson, john mayer, and ben harper. pour yourself a glass of wine (or cider!), soak in the tub with candles, salts, and low lighting, and just listen. you'll see why gratitude comes so easy...