Hope you put Halloween away this weekend and are now getting ready to think about Thanksgiving! It’s hard to believe how fast the year is just going by. If you have not already, I urge you to think about this next holiday coming up. Who do you want to spend it with? How can you make it less stressful and just more fun, as it’s supposed to be. I hope you will reconsider eating a turkey. Those poor animals are as we speak being slaughtered by the millions, to be in stores and freezers in enough quantity to supply demand. It’s always hard for me to see people on social media oohing and ahing over ducklings, piglets, lambs, and other animals, with sincerity. They really love them, think they are precious, and would never want to see them hurt. Yet the disconnect between those animals suffering a horrific, terrifying death so they can be on your plate is something people simply choose to not see, believe, or want to think about. But isn't that part of why we are here on earth? To learn and grow everyday? And to get more in alignment with our beliefs, and make more conscious decisions about how we spend our time and money, who we spend it with, and what we put in our mouths? Besides the fact we have so much science to prove that a plant-based diet, being anti inflammatory like it is, would make us overall so much healthier and in less pain (imagine pain relief just from a diet change), make us less overweight, be better for the environment for those who will be here after we are gone, and save millions of animals from suffering short miserable lives in confinement until the inevitable day of reckoning.

It’s a tough thing to think about, and I for one just have to not think about it too much, and just send prayers to those animals, and those people for which it is a mental strain. (let’s face it, no little kid in elementary school says I want to work in a slaughterhouse when I grow up). But somebody has to do it, so if you plan to eat turkey on Thanksgiving, don’t forget to be grateful for the beautiful, young healthy bird that died, and the worker in the slaughterhouse who had to kill it for you although they didn’t want to, they just needed to feed their own family.

Enough of that. Yesterday late morning I was starting to feel a little under the weather, so I had to cancel everything and just take a nap. You have to do that sometimes! I feel terrible about not being able to take advantage of the beautiful weather and spend time with the horses, but I really needed the rest. And I am glad I did, because today I woke up feeling ready to start the week!

Today I am grateful I was able to get extra rest yesterday, I am grateful I get to go to work today and help people I care about, I am grateful I can look forward to seeing my awesome team who will be ready to stand by my side and do their very best, I am grateful for the amazing mushroom soup I made yesterday, I am grateful my ankle hurts less today after staying off of it extra yesterday, and I am grateful all my animals and family are happy, healthy, and safe. What are you grateful for today?

Do you feel yourself getting energized as we head into the holiday season? I hope that you get and stay high vibration, with deep breathing, movement, dancing, laughter, and don’t let anything bring you down! We will pick the right gifts that make someone else smile, and we will find them at a great price that doesn’t leave us feeling depleted at the end of Christmas. This could be your mantra! But Christmas is still a few weeks away, we have to get through today, first. And if part of your end of year is to donate to a charitable cause, please consider supporting us. You can do so here https://www.coloradogives.org/organization/Resqranch, not only do we need that next load of hay, but we also need decorations for our classroom, seats, bookshelves, rugs, etc., so that when we have the Trailblazers class our classroom is more comfortable. So if you have anything you would like to donate that would be good to dress up a classroom, we could use it! And if you would like to come to class, the sign up is here https://www.resqranch.org/trailblazers-a

Finally, be sure to put on your calendars our Pet Pictures with Santa event! We already have the sign up sheets ready to go, don’t miss out! It’s bound to be an extra special one with Colorado State University sending out an educational van for people to tour while we take pictures, how fun is that? The signup for that is here https://www.resqranch.org/pet-pics-with-santa-signup

​So hug your pets today, be kind to yourself. Find a saying to hang on to today that you can cling to when the going gets tough, since it might, it is a Monday after all. You are good enough, you got this, the holidays will be a breeze this year, I am grateful I have the ability to plan ahead to make everything even better. Because you do!

Have a wonderful day, thanks for reading and for all of your support, I am grateful for YOU!

Check out my YouTube channel for a daily "Good Morning!" from the rescues and lots of free tips and training resources. https://www.youtube.com/@the1drq