I think a lot about native plants. In fact, it is the subject of most everything I do, from the weekly wildflower walks I lead during the growing season, to the many classes, workshops and presentations I offer throughout the year. And I write about native plants in these columns that I produce twice a month. My focus is on plants that are native to the southern Appalachian Mountains and Western North Carolina. 

Thanksgiving morning. I awoke to the sounds of my upstairs neighbor scurrying about, most likely getting things together for whatever he has planned for Turkey Day. Nearby Russ Avenue is oddly quiet. Nobody is heading to work. The incessant construction has ceased for the day, too. 

Thanksgiving morning. The streets of downtown Waynesville are quiet save for a slight, crisp breeze whirling through from the mountain ridges cradling the community. Emerge from bed and peer out the window blinds onto the cloudy sky holiday unfolding in real time. 

My work centers on creating spaces within and spaces without that nurture healing, compassion and personal transformation. Through a blend of spiritual guidance and conscious design, I support my clients’ journey to peace and clarity in their environment and within themselves. With Thanksgiving on the horizon, I thought it might be nice to look at how we embody gratitude. What are the energetic components of gratitude and how does it play out in our reality?

Burn bans have been lifted and wildfires contained after steady rains Tuesday, Nov. 21, put a pause in a relentless drought that has been growing since an abnormally dry weather pattern emerged in September. 

As Turkey Day fast approaches our mouths start to water as our hearts fill with gratitude. We are grateful for all those that we love and the few that we have lost. We search our memory for all of our blessed moments in the past year, coming up with the one that humbled us in the face of this wide, expansive universe. This is the one that we will share as we are gathered around the table this week. This is the one that will moisten eyes and create the lump in our throat as we find the words that sing unison with our heart. What exactly are blessings, and can we use them any other time of the year?

I once wrote a story about a couple in Jackson County who had been living off the grid for decades. They were college-educated professionals who made a choice to live intentionally. 

In her classic novel “Little Women,” Louisa May Alcott has her character Margaret gaze bitterly at the family’s frostbitten garden and proclaim that “November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year.”

My wife and I were truly blessed to have our children, some relatives and close friends gathered for Thanksgiving, which has always been my favorite holiday. So many of the people I love, all together around the table and nothing on the agenda except to re-tell stories from the past, muse about the future, revel in each other’s company and eat until we couldn’t. The world’s problems seemed to melt away.

Twenty-two years ago, Janet Hensley, now 59, was working in guest services at a new hotel in her hometown of Erwin, Tennessee.