Gratitude: the great and terrible

I took a whole week off from doing readings, and in many ways I am glad I did. I am feeling much more energized and grounded again. I also had one of those weeks where tension seemed to pop up everywhere around me, with things going horribly wrong. I can't imagine what my readings would have been like had I done any this past week. At the same time, I had a wonderful week, and a lot of things went great. I am grateful to have the emotional clarity right now to feel thankful for all the wonderful things in life, even amidst the bad. Or is it just knowing that things could have been a lot worse? This weekend I was grateful for sunlight, for not getting eaten by wolves, and for getting home very late.

I got a chance to go to the Saturday morning farmer's market here, the last one for the season. The weather was beautiful, with sun and 68* F (20* Celsius), but still with obvious signs of fall around. It was nice to see the last flowers of summer out in the fall light. I got to take some photos, and also bought a bunch of vegetables at the market. A great start to a Saturday.

Later in the evening, I taught the last day of my 4-week Animal Communication class. My students all did a fantastic job, and I could tell a big difference between now and the first day of class. It's a lot to absorb theoretically if it's someone's first time learning an intuitive art. However, the trick is to relax and not overthink it. It's about getting into a relaxed observational mode. An almost day-dreamy state. Not actively thinking. This is why I like to focus so much on practice in my classes. You can't learn to do this by just reading books. You have to jump in and experience it yourself. That's the only way you can learn to navigate how your abilities work for you.

On my way home from the stables where I teach, my car broke down. And this time, it didn't start again. Luckily we have triple-A, so I called for a tow-truck. The wait was 1 & 1/2 hour to get towed, but somehow the woman on the phone managed to bump me to be first in line, so I only had to wait 30 minutes. I was also lucky to have broken down close to the stables, so I decided to walk back and see if the owner, Anke, was still up.

The brightest light around was the moon, as this was out in the middle of nowhere. As I trudged up the path to the stables in the dark, I heard a strange whirring noise. It sounded almost like a car driving slowly toward me, but I couldn't for the life of me see any car lights (or anything for that matter), so it put me on edge. Then out of the dark a shadow came running at me full speed. In my mind, this had to be a wolf or coyote, so in my feeble efforts to stay alive I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Anke's voice called out, asking me and the wolf what the heck is going on, and that's when I realize that the wolf was just her crazy (but very friendly) dog wanting to say hi. Anke was just out on her golf-cart driving hay around to the horses, without her lights on. I think I gave the dog, the horses, and the neighbors a pretty good scare with my screaming.

I had a nice chat and cup of tea with Anke. I was supposed to get text-updates on when the tow truck was close by, but I wasn't receiving anything. At one point, in mid-conversation, I just felt this sudden overwhelming urge to run back to the car, so I excused myself and ran back. Surrounding my car was the tow truck and a police car. I run over to them, hoping they wouldn't tow it away without me or arrest me for something. Turns out my car had broken down almost right in front of someone's driveway, so the people that live there had called the police. I am sure the scream in the dark didn't help to reassure them either.

The police were just glad I was OK and didn't abandon my car there. The tow truck had just arrived. I eventually got home just fine, though very late.

Sunday was relaxing and uneventful. Whenever I take a break from work like this, I like to revisit my priorities. I went through my lists of projects I am working on, and got a little clearer on what things I want to spend my time doing. I am currently creating a few new online projects that I am very excited about. I also set some new intentions for the next few months.

Tomorrow is Halloween/Samhain of course. Some people wonder if there really is a "thinning of the veil" on Halloween. As a medium, I personally don't notice a big difference in the ability of souls to connect on Halloween versus any other day of the year. People often think more about spirits in general around this time, or they think about their ancestors, and the thought of them can often bring them closer. But you can do that any other day too: think of your loved ones on the other side, and they will feel it and draw closer to you. No need to wait until Halloween.

Regardless, I absolutely adore this holiday. I love giving out candy to kids. I love dressing up. I love all the decor (which I honestly could use all year round). I love the candy. Alas, this year I am on a particular elimination diet, so I can't have any candy. Which might be tough, so wish me luck.
I hope you all have a great celebration and lovely week.

Warmly,
Thea