What to be truly grateful for....

What is a traditional Thanksgiving day? We gather as a family, overeat the planned meal, and grump about how "full" we are. However, I beg to differ the idea of fullness. We may be stuffing ourselves physically full, however, I truly believe that we do this because we feel unfulfilled in other areas in our lives. I believe this because I have lived many instances of this phenomenon. Take today for example. It was not the traditional Thanksgiving with the family. Rather, a road trip down the Northern California coast and it was beautiful. However, when it came to the subject of dinner, vegan items were out of reach. The restaurants along the coast does not cater veganism, vegetarian somewhat, but vegan, no. So I relinquished the vegan "rules" - just for today. And over-indulgence is where I headed - the glasses of wine, the slices of warm crusty bread which I typically ignore since I know it does not serve me, and of course, the beignets for dessert. I knew I felt unsupported in my lack of choices and did the best I could, or did I? And typically, my mind is beating myself up for all the "mistakes" I made. But in this day of thanks, what can I be truly thankful for? The fact that I have the luxury of getting food into my belly, a shelter over my head, a warm blanket, amazing friends, yoga, the fact that I have the luxury to choose to be vegan, and so much more. And the "mistakes" are steps along the journey, and rather than clinging to, I can surrender in the complete fullness of the experience, such that I can let it go. And with that space, I can look forward to my "home" on the mat tomorrow. And to that, I say "cheers" to raw grape drinks, sans fermentation:

Grape chia smoothie

This amazing and energizing drink is made with soaked chia seeds, freshly juiced organic green and red grapes (concord grapes were out of season), freshly juiced organic apples, fresh lemon juice, and blended spinach. No additional sweetener needed! Needless to say, mother nature did all her magic and the drink was nourishing to the mind, body, and spirit.