thanks + giving

giving + thanks

Happy Sunday dear friend, and Happy Thanksgiving,

Two of the healthiest words we can share with one another are expressions of our thanks and acts of giving. When I tap into these two things in my life, there is a sense of fluidity, purposefulness, and life aligns in a beautiful way.

My mother used to say, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” As a mother who brought eight children into the world, her days were an endless list of things to do just to keep life functioning. We grew up poor, with no outside help, but I still understood that she was not suggesting to over-do, but was reminding us that when you give something your best effort and you cared about it, life tends to give its best back to you.

Both giving and gratitude live only in the present moment. We cannot offer what we do not yet hold within our own hands, and we can’t bow in thanks without knowing
where our feet meet the ground.

To give is to recognize abundance as it flows through us, not as possession, but as presence. To be grateful is to awaken to what already is, to pause long enough for the heart to whisper, this is enough.

Giving and gratitude are mirrors of mindfulness, each reminding us to return,
again and again, to the still point of now. To the very place where we can recognize that we are breathing together.

After a rather tiring and testing week to hold awareness while organizing, purging and closing the doors to a creative chapter that has been a good friend for so many years, we took down the website. Once a new path is more clearly defined, the modified website will surely follow.

In the meantime, thanks for walking with me, thanks for sharing practice. If gratitude is this mindful moment between us, where words become gestures of connection
and awareness blooms in the simple act of being here, then a thought, a breath, or a spark of understanding will continue to nourish what is good and true in all of us.

There may not be a letter next weekend, as I’ll be traveling to Plum Village in France for the three month Rains Retreat. From there, I promise to practice for us all. It is my hope to continue to write every week. So meet you here.

Until then, I wish you ample moments of tender and heartful laughter.

with love, a bow and a smile

Gisele

PS. Something that came up in the last week but hasn’t been made public yet, is that I booked the sweet house in the west coast of Ireland to host a retreat for May 23 - 30, 2026. Beyond booking the house and the chef, I’ve not even had time to tell my beautiful Irish community. There is only space for eight people, so if you think you may like to come and join me for quiet reflection, and experience the seaside, the limestone hills and the Irish charm, email me.