This is a conversation about something sneaky and difficult to pin down. I occasionally catch glimpses of it from the corner of my eye and want to see if I can capture it here. I will have to say it several times because as hard as it is to capture, it's harder to hear. It's very much outside the current frame of reference in which we live. This is for everyone and is essential for anyone who is entertained by the thought that they aren't participating enough. Maybe you haven't been to every call or don't practice reliably enough (based on something you made up). You need to deal with this fact: you signed up for Living a Grateful Life in a Fcked Up World because of something you thought was important. That would make a difference for you. You wanted to practice, show up, be more present, grateful, and awake. And maybe—like so many of us in so many areas and so many ways—you haven’t participated as fully as you wanted. Maybe you’ve missed a session, meant to do the practices but didn’t, told yourself I should sit and practice, and then... didn’t. And now? Maybe there’s a little voice saying you’ve fallen behind or that you’ve somehow failed at gratitude or you've been doing it wrong (again), or, or, or... We all have our own personal hater chorus ready to let us know we are not getting it done—nobody escapes this life without these inner critics making themselves known. But let me tell you something: you’re doing it right. And I don't mean this in some rah-rah- you-can-do-it-keep-going-you-go-girl-bullshit way. The fact that you even noticed that you wanted to practice is a win. It's THE win. The fact that you signed up at all is THE win. The fact that you’re reading this right now, thinking about gratitude, about waking up to your life, is the whole damn point. Literally, that's the point. Rather than beating yourself up over the "failure" to do it "right," why aren't you celebrating the moment of awareness, the actual fucking goddamn moment of enlightenment that came upon you when you had the thought, "I should practice today"?

I fell asleep during the meditation and didn’t awake until you were all gone! See you next week

Given my tendency to doze off, good idea to set a 10 minute timer?

The link to the first call has been loaded into Classroom One. I also added the slides as you cannot see the shared screen on the recording. Let me know if you have any questions or replay issues.

Retired in 2000 and lived on Kauai for 12 years and now Mesa AZ. Assisted with Landmark since 1989, initially in Denver and then Phoenix. I have a 40 year old daughter and soon to be 18 year old grandson living in Honolulu. Sure wished they lived closer. Haven’t discovered just what my purpose is at this stage of my 82 year old life. Joined the course based on Aaron’s commitment to assist in aiding others in experiencing life at its fullest. So sorry I missed the first session. I blame it on my limited technical expertise and will commit to viewing the video. Looking forward to connecting with you all. Kenny Dresner 808-651-6980 [email protected]