Quinn’s Corner • November, 2025

Fall is a time of preparing for rest. The hard labor of harvest time is behind us, and now our ancestors would turn towards preparing for the long winter ahead. The fields would be put to bed, and preserving food would be in full swing. This is the perfect time to reflect on gratitude.

For me, gratitude is a part of my daily meditation time. I have found developing a meditation practice to be a difficult discipline for me because my mind loves to be busy. By making my mind pay attention to things I am thankful for, one at a time, I can often quiet my busy thoughts to a point where I am simply full of love and gratitude. Those are the times that I am most successful at the traditional kind of meditation.

“A grateful mind is a great mind which eventually attracts to itself great things” -Plato

Paying attention to the things I am thankful for also protects me when I begin to worry. Worrying is a normal part of the human condition, but it is uncomfortable and usually not helpful at improving anything in our lives. When I am in a place of worry, I am not usually present in what is happening to me in the moment. So, when I notice that I am worrying, I take one deep breath and try to think of what I am thankful for. Often this will put the worry in perspective for me and give it less power to control the paths my thoughts take. This tactic pulls my focus to how amazingly blessed my life truly is.

“The thankful heart opens our eyes to a multitude of blessings that continually surround us” -James Faust

I believe there is great power in paying attention to the specific things we are thankful for. For example, I am deeply thankful for One With Heart. I know that my time at the school has given me so many gifts, but what are those gifts?  Really, I would be hard-pressed to count out all of them. I am thankful for the huge life lessons my kids have learned at the school, and for all the moments spent with all the students, present and past. I am thankful for a safe, clean, big space to train in. I am thankful for what training has taught me about caring for my body. I am thankful for the thousands of volunteer hours that have gone into caring for the school. I am thankful for you all.

I am thankful for our Teacher, Mas Guru Agung Janesa, for all of the training she did over many years so she could gain the wisdom needed to maintain a personal excellence that paved the way for all of her students, for the years of striving for excellence in teaching and for imparting that excellence to us, for not giving up during Covid, for years and years of work and dedication. All of that happened before I even started training. There is a gratitude in my heart made up of thousands of moments that I am thankful for over the last 17 years of Mas Guru Agung, teaching me, pushing me, encouraging me, seeing me, and helping me become the person I am today.

“Think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flames within us” Albert Schweitzer

Thank you for coming to Quinn’s Corner and considering gratitude. I am truly thankful for this community. You are the future of One With Heart. You are, each one of you, the Heart of One With Heart, and I am so thankful you are part of my life.

-Mas Quinn