Author: Ki McGraw

The grocery store across the street has been bustling in preparation for Thanksgiving. Shoppers are getting their provisions for the upcoming feast. We are already satisfied after our early celebration, so we watch from a contented distance.

Our neighbors have been strategizing when the best time is for shopping. They report watching the constant stream of vehicles into the parking lot, waiting for an opening, like they are playing jump rope. Bob and I invite them to attend our classes and our upcoming celebrations like we do anytime.

Are you ready to give thanks? How grateful your heart? Ki to Happiness practices gratitude daily like all the oldest spiritual paths suggest. She give thanks for them and all their representatives.

I dusted off my harmonium to practice a bit before today’s rehearsal with our cellist. While I am a complete amateur, I faced my fears and am ready play my simple role to back up the professional. The sweet sounds brought me into a space of safety, free from judgement.

When I learned how to play, I did so, for my intention to accompany myself as I chant. I’ve let others in Kirtan practice and performed for the University District street fair from our display window in our previous location. Bhakti (devotional) practices are all about intention so whatever the result, I detach as offer up my efforts toward the One who hears my heart.

Who hears your heart? What can you offer to that One in All? Ki to Happiness offers her every early morning to the One, chanting, meditating, praying and practicing asana & pranayama, and sometimes playing the harmonium.

As an act of hope, I planted spring bulbs in my container garden. With summer long gone, the plants that graced our deck all season have nodded down their heads for the winter. Removing their remnants gave me enough room to bury the bulbs.

Even though it’s cold and dark outside with the days, getting shorter, planting tulips and daffodils demonstrate my faith that we will survive. I hope the bulbs have a deep sleep under ground to fortify them for blooming in Spring.

How do you act hopeful? What faithful demonstrations may encourage your hope? Ki to Happiness has faith in natural cycles and remains hopeful that light and warmth with return.

We celebrated Thanksgiving early yesterday with our 31 year old. He came by and delighted in our preparations. We combined his birthday gifts with traditional food offerings for our special time together.

All three of us took pictures with our reluctant cats for our holiday greeting to share with others. Last year after the exciting move to this location, we were late for all such festivities. Overall, we are so grateful to be here, healthy and happy that everyday is Thanksgiving.

How are your preparations for the holiday? can you drop the stress and shift into gratitude for your many blessings? Ki to Happiness chooses to be grateful for what Is, everyday.

I spoke with my good friend from freshman year in high school yesterday. It was her birthday. We’ve celebrated all of our significant landmarks together, since she turned 15.

When we met that day in PE, we had no idea of the significance. We have attended each others weddings, supported each other through divorces, shared stories of our living abroad, stayed current with each others careers and news of our families. This golden friendship, has evolved, grown, and changed, ever widening in its acceptance of one another in deep gratitude.

What golden friendships have you maintained since you were a teenager? How can you ever express your gratitude for the support they provide? Ki to Happiness wouldn’t be happy without friends.

I overheard Bob talking with one of the students before class last evening. I joined them so I could stay privy to her statements about her dad’s recent stroke, and the effect on her life. Bob shared with her his process of having had a stroke nearly 2 years ago, in support of what her dad is facing.

As she described his month in the hospital and the resulting flat affect, Bob said “it sounds like he’s depressed. I went through that. It’s a natural part of the process.” It’s the first time I’ve heard him utter such words which delighted me in his telling the truth in his right timing.

What truth have you not told? When’s the right timing for you to tell your truth? Ki to Happiness celebrates truth being told in right timing for right purposes.

When one of my beginning students started having severe neck pain, I became alarmed. He’s been regularly practicing with us without pain in the same gentle postures for months. I didn’t want to scare him or any of the others in attendance with my knowledge that pain in the left side of the neck up to the jaw could relate to potential heart attack.

Regularly checking in with him during class to ensure that he was not in an emergency situation, and giving him alternative postures worked well enough. He concluded class with us, reporting some general improvements from his experience. I share this now in gratitude that all ended well this time and with a desire to remind us that left side arm/neck/jaw pain can indicate a need for medical attention.

Are you aware of many signs of heart attack? Do you know how to navigate those symptoms without becoming an alarmist? Ki to Happiness knows her limitations as a non medical holistic counselor and yoga teacher.

I faced the chilly day on my bike ride to see the dentist. Unlike the majority of adult Americans who have two untreated cavities in their mouth, I had a great checkup and cleaning. I do have two new chipped teeth from being kicked in the head unintentionally on Saturday by a beloved student.

Neither require any further attention, as they are not visible nor compromising my dental health. As I told my student after the incident, it’s an occupational hazard, as is peaceful energy, a strong and flexible body and a clear and focused mind. Overall, teaching is worth the drawbacks.

Is your job worth it’s drawbacks? Can you take time off to get your teeth cleaned and checked? Ki to Happiness smiles with clean healthy teeth as she works.

My mom’s voice message started with the old song, “Hi ho, Hi ho, it off to work I go.” She has tempered her grief over dad’s passing into a renewed commitment towards serving others. At her advanced age, she inspires many as she explores options for where to best serve.

It brings joy to my heart to hear her doing well, especially at this time of year while the holidays loom. Enjoying my experience, I’m having my own private Thanksgiving this morning. In gratitude, I further recommit to serving others as is part of my family’s tradition.

If you’re fortunate enough to live to an advanced age, what do you foresee doing with yourself? How may you serve best? Ki to Happiness foresees herself serving others in ways that will become clear at as the time arrives, based on skills and lessons learned along the way.

Today’s Scorpio new moon concludes the three day energy portal of great manifestation. We are given another opportunity to meditate on the energies we wish to transmute. Generally moving from fearful fragmentation, to peace and wholeness is my intention.

Gathering together our disparate aspects of self, we each become more effective in our intention. Aligning our actions with those intentions, we integrate our energies for manifestation. Holding a clear, unified vision of what you’d most like to create for the upcoming holidays is a good use of today’s new moon.

How peaceful would you like your holidays to be? What disparate energies do you need to transmute to align with that desire? Ki to Happiness shifts away from fears ever toward the safety of the Higher Self.