Today, I am grateful and thankful for,
- getting off at the wrong tube station, and for the beautiful walk it lead to, in the sunshine.
- for the kindness of Charlie to listen and offer good advice
- for taking a risk to try to offer a deeply meaningful apology.
Today, I am grateful and thankful for,
- those who are supporting Child Q, and those working for progress from this injustice.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/20/met-rebuked-for-strip-searches-two-years-before-child-q-case-in-hackney
- the generosity of a friend who I have known from childhood, her openness and her wise advice.
- for walking, and recognising a further layer of weight just drop off, further forgiveness showing on new names in the mix of it all. It's not so painful so more, less so that I can shake and it falls.
Today, I am thankful and grateful for,
- the kindness of friends, family and colleagues offering support around overwhelming feelings, accompanied by a level of depression. Particularly recognisable in the mornings, getting out of bed.
- for the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, from Iran.
- recognising, through informed consideration, that abandoning something is the correct choice sometimes.
Today, I am grateful and thankful for,
- how writing thoughts and feelings down really does get you to a certain clarity that circulating ideas in your head sometimes cannot.
- Stuart Jeffries talk on postmodernism at Conway Hall.
- Enjoying sushi in a nearby park.
- the film, Red Rocket by Sean Baker.
Today, I am grateful and thankful for,
- finding a rhythm and freedom to relax and dance on my own at a club last night
- marmalade
- a good period of managing my addiction to chocolate. The feelings of compulsion have been low, and I've been not having very much at all.
Today, I am grateful and thankful for
- a cool shower in the dark, with a light white phone light in the corner of the bathroom.
- the opportunity to highlight a colleague's determination through a difficult time.
- a dear friend calling from abroad to discuss their feelings around the brutal harm happening in Ukraine.
Today, I am thankful and grateful for,
- having an album from my teenage years, crack open a flood of emotions around so many things that have happened to me over the past couple of decades. A damn broken, finally, on work I'd been doing, and opened up all these important feelings.
- for the vocal and practical resistance to war, and support for Russian and Ukrainian people wanting peace and safety, particularly those who have worked tirelessly to provide safe passage to those fleeing.
- for a lovely meal with someone whose company I have missed
Today, I am thankful and grateful for,
- Industrial Coast, supporting humanitarian aid for Ukraine, via World Central Kitchen
- a discussion in Open Dialogue around what is happening in Ukraine, and Russia's invasion.
- meeting someone who I connected with strongly very quickly. I felt a special love.
Today, I am grateful and thankful for,
- The opportunity to meet ex-colleagues face-to-face for the first time.
- Feelings of impotency and pressure regarding my relationship with the news coming out of Ukraine, and how that helps inspire thoughts around changing behaviour, what to do.
- People protesting with poems around UCU strike.
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/unions/ucu
Today, I am grateful and thankful for,
- the visceral horror of the film, Threads (1984)
- All people working towards the neutralising and defeating of the attack on the Ukraine.
- All people working towards removing Putin from office, away from the power to unleash nuclear bombs.
Today, I am grateful and thankful for
- those who oppose Greg Abbot's punitive orders to the Commissioner of Texas, and those who support and help to protect Trans people from cruelty and harm.
- The 'Talk For Health' programme by Nicky Forsythe.
- The anticipation of my parents visiting next Tuesday, and a visit to Whitechapel Gallery
Today, I am grateful and thankful for,
- Tish Murtha and her care for Elswick.
- The power of collective grief - helped me to feel someone who I did not know, but can now recognise their resonance, their creativity, their imagination and belief. I have not earned the place to mention your name here yet, but I hope I will as time goes on, and I can engage more with your work, to form my own private connection.
- An alternative route to a regular destination.
- Feeling the gentler, but firm Storm Franklin on a walk, having my arms moved with the wind.
Today, I am grateful and thankful for
- Temple Of Seitan, with a delicious Temple Deluxe, Dalston's Rhubarb and Fries.
- The opportunity to stand-up against someone being cruel about a friend.
- Kurt Cobain on his birthday
- Historic England's Another England (historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/another-england)
Today, I am thankful and grateful for,
- Broken Records podcast, by Pushkin.
- A wonderful day of experience involving Golden Teachers, Big Jet TV, and various music.
- The friendliness of friends afar
Today, I am grateful and thankful for
- The 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Saltley Gate, and Arthur Scargill's work.
- Sharon Graham's intervention, and using her union support to influence Labour behaviour in support of workers.
- A clear blood test.
Today, I am grateful and thankful for,
- The encouragement of a friend to take action on an issue.
- The confidence and trust of a friend to alert me to talking over her / mansplaining. For their acceptance of my apology.
- Spending a day outside for training, with the breeze in my hair. A strange kind of presence, online and outside.
Today, I am grateful and thankful for
- the opportunity to advocate for friends, musicians
- connecting to where North, South, East, West and all in between is - inside my bedroom.
- learning about Qigong
Today, I am thankful and grateful for
- a friend teaching me techniques for playing a Gong
- Folk Horror Festival IV, at The Peer Hat, Manchester
- The feeling of going up steps into an attick
- The generosity and hospitality of friends in Manchester
Today, I am grateful and thankful for
- The bravery of Lisa Squire, wanting to meet the person who killed her daughter.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-60227266
- anticipating an appointment with The Golden Teacher
- Being more comfortable sitting with Doubt
Today, I am grateful and thankful for
- Lucy Hopkins, and her show 'The Unknown'
- The fascades of Islington in the nighttime
- The bravery of Harriet Robson
Today, I am thankful and grateful,
- for the remarkable talent of Shantala Shivalingappa
- for being invited into a boundaries and protection ritual
- those working to maintain peace in Ukraine and Russia.
- for sharing conversations with strangers
Today, I am grateful and thankful for,
- the bravery of Dr. Konstancja Duff, pursuing the police for derogatory and unacceptible language, following a strip-search.
- cool breeze from the window, whilst warm under the bedsheets
- Blood Lancets
Today, I am grateful and thankful for,
- a first negative Covid-19 test, after having Covid-19 from last Monday.
- something rising through the waves for what to do for an event soon.
- Genograms
Today, I am grateful and thankful for,
- the help of a flatmate
- the feeling of setting out of tasks long overdue
- recognising jealousy, and comparison, and returning to the calling of my heart
Today, I am grateful and thankful for
- the life, generosity and wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh
- the melodrama that Meat Loaf brought, and the life of Michael Lee Aday
- clouds
Today, I am thankful and grateful for
- feeling a little less poorly with Covid-19, aching slightly less.
- for restrictions helping me be essential with my eating, creating a sense of modesty, albeit not being driven by mental discipline so much.
- the idea that "when we share in words, we are sharing something which has passed". Makes me think of Simon Green, and his music.
Today, I am deeply grateful and thankful for
- being in a space where strangers and friends generously shared deeply personal stories.
- the offer of care from housemates
- The story of Guy Fawkes and The Gunpowder Plot
Today, I am thankful and grateful for,
- those who are helping people in the wake of the Tongan tsunami.
- the present defeat of the authoritarian, anti-democratic Policing Bill
https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/2839
- for being exposed to contemplating the Freudian relationship of a person with The State
Today, I am grateful and thankful for,
- for contracting Covid-19, so far, with non-severe effects. A small tickle, a general weakness across my bones - slightly flu-like.
- I am grateful for the vaccinations I have had, that I might be experiencing a far worse reaction to this virus if I had not had these vaccinations.
- I am grateful for the concern and support of friends around news of my testing positive, and how that support makes me feel cared for.
Today, I am grateful and thankful for,
- that I have friends with young children, and the happiness that their families growing together bring me.
- for the new people I have met, who I work with, and an environment where openness around the personal, and mental health, is encouraged and supported.
- The view outside of a large window, in the new place I live. Some trees where birds frequent, and three highrises in the distance, that various colours or various sunrises and sunsets carress.
