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Blog archive

November 2024

October 2024

ARBORIST WALK: NOT FOR TREE HUGGERS ONLY!
10/29/2024

Bill Wishner: Visual Hunter
10/29/2024

Can a Village Group Fix Our Healthcare System?
10/29/2024

Community Board Directors Strengthen Village Board
10/29/2024

Connecting with Village Connections: The A, B, C, & D’s of Medicare @ 65+
10/29/2024

Grief is a Journey: Two Paths Taken
10/29/2024

Message from the President
10/29/2024

Promoting Informed & Involved Voters
10/29/2024

What Will Be Your Legacy?
10/29/2024

1619, Approaching the Election...
10/27/2024

Beyond and Within the Village - A Star is Born
10/17/2024

Happiness by Priscilla Leonard
10/11/2024

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
10/11/2024

Unpainted Door by Louise Gluck
10/11/2024

In the Evening by Billy Collins
10/10/2024

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
10/10/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

September 2024

August 2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

First Anniversary
08/19/2024

Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen
08/16/2024

Muse des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden
08/16/2024

The God Abandons Antony by Constantinos P. Cavafy
08/16/2024

Ch – Ch – Ch –Changes
08/15/2024

Cultural Activities Team offers an ‘embarrassment of riches’
08/15/2024

Engaging in Pasadena Village
08/15/2024

Future Housing Options
08/15/2024

Message from the President
08/15/2024

There Are Authors Among Us
08/15/2024

Villagers Welcome New Members at the Tournament Park Picnic
08/15/2024

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
08/14/2024

A narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson
08/13/2024

Haikus
08/13/2024

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
08/13/2024

Poem 20 by Pablo Neruda
08/13/2024

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
08/13/2024

Trees by Joyce Kilmer
08/13/2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

Emergency Preparedness: Are You Ready?
05/28/2024

Farewell from the 2023/24 Social Work Interns
05/28/2024

Gina on the Horizon
05/28/2024

Mark Your Calendars for the Healthy Aging Research California Virtual Summit
05/28/2024

Meet Our New Development Associate
05/28/2024

Putting the Strategic Plan into Practice
05/28/2024

Washington Park: Pasadena’s Rediscovered Gem
05/28/2024

Introducing Civil Rights Discussions
05/22/2024

Rumor of Humor #2416
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2418
05/14/2024

Springtime Visitors
05/07/2024

Freezing for a Good Cause – Credit, That Is
05/02/2024

No Discussion Meeting on May 3rd
05/02/2024

An Apparently Normal Person Author Presentation and Book-signing
05/01/2024

Flintridge Center: Pasadena Village’s Neighbor That Changes Lives
05/01/2024

Pasadena Celebrates Older Americans Month 2024
05/01/2024

The 2024 Pasadena Village Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
05/01/2024

Woman of the Year: Katy Townsend
05/01/2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

Halloween Gratitude

By John Tuite
Posted: 10/27/2021
Tags:
Men's Time Topic Discussion for Tuesday, November 2nd

Welcome Gentlemen of the Village!  It is November, 2021!  November: I grew up in the Midwest, so November was always
a time of warning! danger! darkness! threat!  “Spooky monsters" had appeared on the last day of the previous month, warning
of tricks without treats, announcing their presence with bloody faces and terrifying shouts…nothing like today's benign encounters
intended to buy off the neighbors’ children with pounds of chocolate!  No homeowner was safe…no child save threat of bodily harm! \
Burning leaves on curbsides, despite the pleasant aroma, spoke to fire’s curse to home and hearth!

If that weren’t enough, winter was coming with snow, sleet, hail, and ice!  Darkness, shadows, and nightfall came before suppertime!
With the cold came “longies”, sweaters, caps, scarves, and overcoats!  By the time you were dressed for the mile walk to school
you were sweaty and grumpy, and you probably forgot where you left your homework!  Oh god!  What explanation to give to
Sister F’rgivemenot!  Oh god!  It was such a pleasant childhood! 

But this is fifty, sixty, and seventy years later.  What shall we choose for a topic for November, 2021?  I heard it! I heard it! What more fitting
than than Gratitude!  By the end of the month, what with gloomy mornings, overcast days, waiting for Christmas holidays, the
calendar was kind enough to place in the last week that glorious festival of Gratitude, a whole day of giving thanks, Thanksgiving!!

But what is it other than that sigh of relief of having missed another year of root canals, stolen identity, and the Covid? 

“Gratitude is a spontaneous feeling but, increasingly, research demonstrates its value as a practice…that is, making conscious 
efforts to count one’s blessings.  Studies show that people can deliberately cultivate gratitude…and there are important
social and personal benefits to doing so.  It is possible to feel grateful for loved ones, colleagues, animals, nature, and
life in general.  The emotion generates a climate of positivity that both reaches inward and extends outward.”

So, let’s test out this theory that the practice of gratitude can give us “a climate of positivity”.  I want you all and each to briefly
and sincerely tell us who and what you are grateful for, and why, if you can, simply.  And let it sink in, if it will, and test the
healing nature of Thankfulness…Gratitude…Appreciation…Being the Beneficiary…Making a Gratitude List…Celebrating
Gratitude Daily…Being mindful of my world...Tell us the little things that you’re grateful for...and no repeats, please.

John Tuite

 
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