For USA readers, yesterday was Thanksgiving – I spent the day with family, being thankful for so much. For the international readers, I hope you joined in yesterday, or perhaps will join me in some thankfulness today.
Front and center on my list of things to be thankful for are: health, family, and community. Health makes the whole thing possible; family–immediate and extended–gives me the daily dose of what love really means, as well as the strength to live a full life; and community–my friends, my amazing staff, co-collaborators, and you–make it all so exciting, rich, and inspirational beyond my wildest dreams. All these things are wonderful and worthwhile things to celebrate.
Within the always-humbling, sometimes-overwhelming presence that this community has in my life, I draw an immeasurable amount of inspiration and motivation. It’s continually shocking for those times when I receive your thanks or kind words, because in my head, our roles are reversed – I feel like the one who clearly derives the most benefit from your participation in this constantly growing community. Words here cannot extend a big enough thanks to you.
Let me take a moment to thank a small handful of friends, collaborators, organizations that have for some reason or another recently made an (another?) impression on me. This is not an exhaustive list, but rather a short one that is present for me at the moment. They are all, in some unexpected ways, not to be missed:
NON PROFIT ORGS
4Culture.org
Blue Earth Alliance
Help-Portrait
MUSIC
Head Like A Kite
Victor Shade
Say Hi
Fences
Shabazz Palaces
GOOD PEOPLE
The Superformula
Ace Hotel
Vince Klimek.
Matt’s In The Market.
Foodista
Small-Lot Wines
Mike Horn
Build LLC
Theo Chocolate
Lastly. If you feel inclined to, please share in the comments section below something you’re thankful for. Anything sincere–and this is not just for the USA folks. It might be a USA holiday, but gratitude is worldwide. I’ll select a handful of comments and send you a signed book or something else to show my thanks for your sharing.
Oh, and I always love this reminder: “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward Have a great weekend.
Chase,
I am thankful for my daughter who entered the world a month early on Monday. Today, November 26, 2010 she will be allowed to go home. I am thankful for every moment that I have spent with her so far and the moments that my wife and I will share with her.
I am thankful for life….in every respect of the word.
I am thankful that when I took what seemed to be my last breath, there was a second chance at life. Thankful for the lives of the paramedics, the doctors and nurses.
I am thankful for the lives I have created, which allowed me to understand every emotion that human lives are capable of. Their smiles make me love my life.
I am thankful for the living world – mother earth. It’s not all concrete and artificial lighting – and there is so many different worlds within our world. If Mother earth can’t make you see your potential, and get you excited….you have not found what it is that will blow you away.
“Another year is fast approaching. Go be that starving artist you’re afraid to be. Open up that journal and get poetic finally. Volunteer. Suck it up and travel. You were not born here to work and pay taxes. You were put here to be part of a vast organism to explore and create. Stop putting it off. The world has much more to offer than what’s on 15 televisions at TGI Fridays. Take pictures. Scare people. Shake up the scene. Be the change you want to see in the world.”
— Jason Mraz
I’m thankful to be surrounded by such wonderful, creative people who support me and allow me to support them.
I’m thankful that the world seems to be reverting to a place where caring and giving are becoming more common place.
I’m thankful for my wife who supports me and my hair-brained ideas and expects me to go forth and grow.
I’m thankful I’m surrounded by beauty in all it’s forms.
I’m thankful for coffee.
I am happy, grateful, and thankful that I get to spend my everyday with my family, making photographs of the peaceful beauty that is my part of this earth.
I’m thankful because I have the freedom and ability to make choices, although I often make the wrong ones.
Such is life.