Thank you world.

Hello, welcome to my first blog post. I start by giving thanks, a cultural tool for grounding and gaining perspective.

I thank the earth for providing us with so much i cannot hope to list it all – material support, food, beauty, homes, nourishment.

I thank the sky for the gifts of sun to inspire and feed us, rain to cleanse and nourish us, wind to breath freshness into us.

I thank the soil and the funghi for their wealth, for their store of precious life and nutrients, recycling the dead that the living may feed.

I thank the water for its teachings of flow, for its constant cycling of resources and cleansing; washing us and the land down, quenching our thirst and that of all the animals and plants, creating the conditions inside us for all our chemical and biological interactions – cells, bacteria, digestion, blood, for all the beings that require fresh clean water to continue.

I thank all the beings that help to cleanse the water, to clear the imbalances from our water courses and rivers, from the dancing streams to the rivers, to the lake, to the deltas and bays to the seas and ocean.

I thank the plants for bringing us food and beauty, for protecting the precious soils and transforming sunlight and soil and water into such exquisite shapes and tastes.

I thank the trees for their strength and grandeur, their gifts of fruits, nuts, shelter, homes and versatile wood we can use in so many ways, to protect our vulnerable bodies in the cold and wet times.

I thank the animals, from the tiny unseen creatures of the soil who do so much to start our food web, to the large animals that teach and inspire us, the wolf, the deer, the elephant. They also often lose their lives for us, that we may feed and clothe ourselves.

I thank the human family for having so much love and potential, for wanting to learn and experience, for our beauty and bravery and creativity. I bring to mind the future generations of humans and other species, and dedicate this blog to them, to let them know we are thinking of them and exploring ways to leave them a wiser and more nourishing world.

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Some indigenous cultures give a thanksgiving address before each gathering, to ground themselves in their place in the natural world, in the passage of history and remind them of the larger perspective and their responsibilities and interconnection with everything, and probably lots of other more subtle reasons i don’t yet comprehend. Its a cultural tool we couldreally do with in the West. Our daily information is more usually about the problems and darkness of our human sphere, which is a part of the picture, but the picture is much larger than that.

I feel a sense of peace, expansiveness and awe having written this, and a desire to bring what is best for all beings into the world.

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Looking at my notebook I see I forgot to mention birds, spirit, stars and a few other things, but it is all a learning path : )

I will end by thanking my human mentors who have helped me along this journey as well, to my ever loving parents, to Aranya my deeply abundant Permaculture teaching mentor, to Jillian my incisive, wise life mentor, to the UK Permaculture Association for all their support in my lifework of connected sustainable living, and Jon Young and all involved in the Art of Mentoring for a rich work of cultural regeneration (including this thanksgiving tool). And i thank and appreciate myself also, for finally starting a blog and spending some time on my edge tonight.