Online Gratitude Journal March 2010 Edition #38
March 29, 2010 by Akemi
I skipped my monthly Gratitude Journal last month. I actually had the draft ready to go, but the format just didn’t feel right any more after I renovated this blog to Real Life Spirituality. So this month, I am trying on a new format. (Photo credit)
Gratitude for my earthly life
Living in this physical world is fun in many ways. Some people see life as school, and that is true, but I also think it’s like a big amusement park. You can be scared and sick with some rides in the park, or you can have lots of fun by choosing the rides. And sometimes getting sick on the crazy ride is exactly what you want. It’s all up to you.
Spring means gardening. However, I am not into the kind of serious, heavy gardening that involves tiling, pushing the wheelbarrow, and weeding. I’m just not built for that kind of manual labor, plus I only have a deck right now, no garden. So I like growing herbs and some vegetables in containers.
This month, I started my first batch of microgreens. Microgreens are bigger than sprouts, so they need soil and sun, but they are harvested early before they grow to full size, so they need only a tiny bit of soil and time investment.
Look what I am getting! These are cold-tolerant plants. The light greens on the left are winter salad mix (lettuce, arugula, corn salad, radicchio, endive, parsley, and chervil). The smaller dark greens are kale that I planted a week later.
Okay, so I need to practice putting the seeds more evenly, but you get the idea. If you have some sunny spot, you can do this — truly FRESH live greens for your salad! Full sun is ideal, but another good thing about growing microgreens is you can do it even with less sun. It will take longer to grow, but because you are not after fruits or tubers, your plants don’t need tons of sun for photosynthesis.
I’m so happy and grateful for the sun, the water, the earth, and all things green.
I highly recommend this. It’s so much fun to watch the cute little greens come out of soil. If you have small children, they would love it, too — a sure way to get them eat their salad 
Gratitude for my friends
Evita Ochel made a great fun bucket list of meeting blogger buddies. I agree, we bloggers spend so much time communicating with other bloggers and commenters that they feel just as close to, or sometimes even closer than, our offline, in-person friends. How wonderful it would be to meet up with them!
So here is my version of blogger meet up dream plan. Perhaps when I write 500 posts and become really famous, I get to do this Less than 300 posts to go — it’s good to have something to look forward to:
First let’s pay respectful visit to Barbara Swafford, who inspired Evita to write her bucket list and who lives in the same state of Oregon — hey, it’s only a few hours drive! Let’s see if she wants to join this world tour.
Then down to California to see Lisa, the Mommy Mystic to do chakra meditation together.
Next I fly to Ohio to see earthmother. I hope she can take me to a hike and show how to forage edible wild plants. I will also drive to Columbus, where I lived for 10 years, to see my old colleagues. I consider Ohio to be my American home town.
Then I will hop to Wisconsin to see Lance. If I remember right, the sweet Kim & Jason are in the same area, too. We will goof off and surprise even the four year olds 
From there, I will fly to the East Coast. Let’s see, I can’t miss my long-time friend Hunter Nuttall in D.C. Perhaps he can teach me how to utilize my left hand more and therefore balance my brain. Or we can discuss personality types and starseed groups.
I love reading food blogs. Choosing Raw is one of my favorites. Gena is smart and compassionate. I’d love to have lunch with her at Pure in NYC.
After the bustling of the Big Apple, I head north. Before crossing the border, I will meet Jenny Mannion in upstate New York to see her new healing center. (By the time I get to do this tour, I’m sure it is up and running.)
In Canada, Evita will be waiting for me. We will discuss the science of healthy eating and living.
Hmm, as I check my Google Reader, I notice some of my blogger buddies haven’t been posting for a while. Is Cath Lawson still in England or will she be in Canada?
In Australia, I need to visit Melbourne to see Albert, the revered Urban Monk, and Robin.
Maybe I missed a few of my friends here — forgive me. This is just a starting place of a fun project.
Okay, this is it for today. Many thanks to all the readers, commenters, and blogger friends. I hope you are enjoying the spring. And don’t forget the April Fools Day — one of my favorite day Plan something fun and silly.
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Hi Akemi,
You are welcome here ANYTIME!! And…yes, Kim and Jason are just less than an hour from me!! It could be a great big FUN party! Goofing off…I am all for it!!! And then…you know…I would want to join you on this tour – what a great group of people you have listed here!
And…when I make it out to Oregon…I am looking you up!!!
Woohoo!!!!! Fun!!
Lance,
Cool. If you are arriving PDX (Portland airport), I will drive 2 hours to come get you. Both Portland and Eugene are beautiful.
Hi Akemi,
Thank You so much for including me and for your confidence in our center being open by then!
I would LOVE to meet you in person and give you a huge hug! 
Your tour sounds like fun and I would love to meet up with many of the people you mentioned too. You also gave me a couple of new people to check out – thank you!
It has been wonderful meeting you Akemi – thanks for your continued friendship.
Love,
Jenny
Jenny Mannion´s last blog ..Help Me Win The Next Top Spiritual Author Contest
I would LOVE to have you come visit and do a chakra meditation – you are welcome anytime! And that is a great idea from Evita.
I’m busy putting in my garden yesterday and today…maybe will put some pictures up in my own month-end post if I can…
Lisa (mommymystic)´s last blog ..The Body-Mind-Spirit Mandala or 7 Shades of Bliss
Terrific! When are you coming? I’ll even tag along with you to NY to visit Gena and eat at Pure Food & Wine.
LOVE that you’re growing your own microgreens now! Next comes the square foot garden.
Jenny, Lisa, and Earth Mother,
Remember you are welcome to visit me in Oregon, too!
Square foot gardening is really neat, something I would do if I had a patch of earth for myself.
Right now, my gardening dilemma is when to plant the herbs and vegs. The temp is high enough, I think, but it rains so often until June, so the plants won’t have much sun. Perhaps I want to wait until around May…
Hi Akemi,
I love your on-line gratitude journal. I have one in the Oprah Community http://www.oprah.com/community/thread/104994 The Gratitude Gnome wanted to leave a message for you and your friends -
Once upon a time there was a garden gnome who was very unhappy and lonely. He was cold and stone like. He felt that nobody loved him and he saw only ugliness around him.
One day a very wise rabbit visited the garden. The rabbit had seen much of life and suggested to the gnome that he start being grateful for EVERYTHING in his life. This was something gnome had never done so he decided to give it a
go. Each day he poured out gratitude for the flowers, the trees,the birds and the bees. He followed the rabbits advice exactly and was even grateful for the things that used to upset and annoy him.
He found that there was always a gift buried within the upset if he looked deeply enough.
The more gratitude he felt, the more he saw to be grateful for.
A miracle began to happen in the garden. The flowers grew more abundantly, their colours more vivid, the birds chirped more beautifully and people began to visit the garden.
One spring morning a beautiful fairy visited the garden. She said to the gnome” Little gnome, your gratefulness has made this garden a vision of splendour and a place of love for all who visit it.
What a gift you have given the world. What gift would you like in return?”
“I have been blessed. I would like to be a gardener to help others to bring beauty to their gardens through gratitude”
The fairy waved her magick wand and the gnome became a gardener. The gratitude gardener brought great joy and beauty to people wherever he went , he found a female love gardener to share with and they all Lived happily FOREVER after.
lots of love and blessings Janni
Hi Akemi
Oh this was such a great idea for a gratitude journal!!! I love it!
And yes, you are so welcome to come visit me, anytime you would like a visit to this part of Canada!!!
And I love what you have done with your microgreens! They look fantastic and I bet yummy too
Evita Ochel´s last blog ..Evolving Being In Action: Zeenat Merchant-Syal
I’m grateful to be alive and healthy. I really like the oprah show and what she is doing.
Check out Online Gratitude Journal March 2010 Edition #38 http://goo.gl/fb/n4ccR
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
RT @akemigaines: Check out Online Gratitude Journal March 2010 Edition #38 http://bit.ly/bZtam9 –> you are AWESOME!!!!
This comment was originally posted on Twitter