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22 November 2022
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Simple and Profound
Thoughts
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We often take for
granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.
Cynthia Ozick
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There is a calmness
to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.
Ralph H. Blum
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Acknowledging
the good that you already have in your life is the
foundation for all abundance.
Eckhart Tolle
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When
I first open my eyes upon the morning meadows and look
out upon the beautiful world, I thank God I am alive.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Gratitude
(an
excerpt)
Cherie Carter-Scott
To be grateful means you are thankful for and appreciative of
what you have and where you are on your path right now.
Gratitude fills your heart with the joyful feeling of being
blessed with many gifts and allows you to fully appreciate
everything that arises on your path. As you strive to
keep your focus on the present moment, you can experience the
full wonder of "here."
My friend Martin always used to complain about the city of Los
Angeles, where he lived for three years while getting his
doctorate. He complained incessantly about the smog, the
traffic, and the expensive lifestyle. Martin was
convinced life would be far rosier when he would be able to
move to another city.
Within a few weeks of finishing his program and earning his
degree, Martin packed his belongings and moved to
Boulder. Within months of his arrival there, he began to
complain about the cold weather, the slow pace, and how much
difficulty he was having finding a house that was up to his
standards. Suddenly, he regretted that he never
appreciated the sunny weather and the exciting lifestyle of
Los Angeles. In my last conversation with Martin, I
gently pointed out that perhaps this was an opportunity for
him to learn the lesson of gratitude by appreciating the
splendor of his new city, rather than focusing on another
"there."
Gratitude is a lesson that needs to be reinforced often.
It is too easy to overlook the gifts you have when you focus
on those that you hope to obtain, and you diminish the value
of where you currently are on your path if you do not pause
often to appreciate it.
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There are
many ways to cultivate gratitude. Here are just a few
suggestions you may wish to try:
* Imagine what your life would be like if you lost all
that you had. Like George Bailey in the movie It's a
Wonderful Life, this will most surely remind you of how
much you do appreciate it.
* Make a list each day of all that you are grateful for,
so that you can stay conscious daily of your blessings.
Do this especially when you are feeling as though you have
nothing to feel grateful for. Or spend a few minutes
before you go to sleep giving thanks for all that you have.
* Spend time offering assistance to those who are less
fortunate than you, so that you may gain perspective.
* Look for the gift in each challenging situation.
However you choose to learn gratitude is irrelevant.
What really matters is that you create a space in your
consciousness for appreciation for all that you have right
now, so that you may live more joyfully in your present
moment.
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Thanksliving
John
Marks Templeton
Thanksgiving normally centers on things to give thanks for.
This is good and helpful for, as someone once said, "A
grateful mind is a great mind which eventually attracts to itself
great things." The grateful mind is more than simply a
response to the condition of things in life; it is a celebration of an
ever-present spiritual reality. This "attitude of
gratitude" can open the door to the increased flow of abundance
in one's life. However, a deeper and seldom considered
interpretation of thanksgiving can focus on what you have to give
thanks from. This insight deals with the level of
consciousness that enables you to see things from a higher
perspective.
Thanksgiving is a creative force that, if lived on a continuous basis
and not just for one day each year, can create more good in your
life. Perhaps we could call this way of life thanksliving.
Thanksliving is based on the premise that living a life of
appreciation and gratefulness leads to having more to be thankful
for. We have the ability to create blessings in our life through
the power of mind action and the choices we make. Let's look at
some ways we can choose to practice thanksliving.
First, let's take a look at our life and find the good that is already
expressing and praise this good. An old adage states that "where
your attention goes, your energy flows." This means we
tend to attract that to which we give our attention. A good idea
can get even better as its possibilities for greater good are
explored. The more good you can see and praise, the more you
direct creative energy to positive results. Even in situations
that at first appear difficult or unpleasant, see all the good you can
and bless the good you can see! Praise the good and watch it
multiply.
A second way to experience thanksliving is to give thanks ahead of
time for whatever good you desire in your life. Feel as if you
have already received this good. One law of life can be
stated in these words: "Thoughts held in mind will
reproduce in the outer world after their own kind." In
other words, you help create your outer life according to the way you
have created your inner life--with thoughts, beliefs, and
attitudes. Thanksliving can help us to create what we
want. Instead of postponing uplifting, satisfied feelings until
after the fact, practice experiencing those good feelings now.
If what you desire is a more prosperous lifestyle, start feeling and
acting like a grateful and prosperous person today. Your
attitude tends to draw prosperity to you like a magnet.
A third way to experience thanksliving--perhaps the most difficult,
yet the most powerful of all--is to give thanks for your problems and
challenges. As you face your situations and overcome them, you
grow in strength, wisdom, and compassion. One of the best ways
to learn mathematics is to be given a problem to solve. One of
the best ways to prepare for an athletic event is to practice with a
strong, competitive opponent. An ancient proverb says, "A
donkey may carry a heavy load of sandalwood on its back and never know
its preciousness--only its weight." Sometimes people
feel the weight of circumstances and lose sight of the precious nature
of the many and various gifts of life. Adversity, when overcome,
strengthens you. So you are giving thanks, not for the problem
itself, but for the strength and knowledge that result from the
experience. Giving thanks for this growth ahead of time helps
you to grow through--not just go through--any challenges that arise.
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I am grateful
for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.
It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing
definite--only
a sense of existence. My breath is sweet to me.
O how I laugh when
I think of my vague indefinite riches. No run on my
bank can drain it,
for my wealth is not possession but enjoyment.
Henry
David Thoreau
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Redefining--Let's
Not Get Stuck in the Past
Every year at
this time we start to see a whole lot of videos about what an
awful holiday Thanksgiving is--that it was a holiday to celebrate
massacres of Native Americans, that the Pilgrims didn't really
have that first celebration with the Wampanoag tribe, that by
celebrating the day we're celebrating the killing of Native
Americans and the taking of their homelands over the last four
centuries.
It is absolutely true that what ended up happening on this
continent is a travesty that will go down in history as a series
of tragic, cruel, and unjustified events. If it were up to
me, they never would have happened and the people who came here
and killed those who were native to the land never would have
come, never would have killed anyone. But it's not up to me,
and it's not something that can be changed. Right now, we're
in the year 2017, and we have the decision to make about what
Thanksgiving means to us, not what it was about more than a
century ago.
And I believe that we've redefined it very well. When I'm
with other people around Thanksgiving time, I find that their
focus is almost exclusively on the gratitude that they feel for
the people in their lives, for their opportunities, for the things
that they have. I've never met anyone who is thankful this
week for the bad things that have happened to other people or for
their "victories" over people they don't like or who may
stand in their way.
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Our past may explain why we're
suffering but we must not
use it as an excuse to stay in bondage.
Joyce Meyer
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Thanksgiving now
is about keeping in mind the fact that we have many blessings in
life--it's not about gratitude that Native Americans were killed
so that European immigrants could take over their land. It's
important that we not forget the terrible things that happen so
that we can avoid doing the same horrible things in the future and
so that someday we can start to provide some of the long-overdue
reparations, but it's also important that we remain firmly planted
in the present and realize that bringing people together in the
spirit of gratitude is one of the most positive and constructive
things that we can do in this stressful world of ours.
Reminding ourselves and others of the importance of gratitude is
something that we need to do constantly. In doing so, we
keep our perspective healthy and productive and constructive,
rather than allowing ourselves to become sick and
destructive. A person who feels gratitude for someone else's
service will provide positive feedback to that person, thus
helping both of them. A person who is thankful for his or
her gifts in life will be more likely to pass on those gifts to
others, thus providing others with more in their own lives to be
grateful for. One who feels gratitude for things like
safety, love, and compassion will be more likely to try to provide
those things for others, and can definitely help to make our world
a safer and more peaceful place, little by little.
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The
past can teach us, nurture us, but it cannot
sustain us. The essence
of life is change, and we
must move ever forward or the soul will
wither and die.
Susanna Kearsley
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Should
we abolish this day because there were many cruel and heartless
people in our country 200, 250, or 300 years ago? Should we
take away one of the most positive days of our entire year because
horrible things happened here in our past? I think that
you'll find that every country on this planet has horrible things
in their past--people have always been cruel to other people, just
as people have always been kind and loving and compassionate
towards other people. Personally, I would hate to lose this
day because I strongly feel that asking people to focus on what
they're thankful for for a day or two is extremely useful and
helpful, both to the individuals and to the communities in which
they live.
It's a day on which we focus on others, a day on which we keep in
mind that all that we have isn't a result of solely our own
efforts, but of the efforts of an entire community--indeed, an
entire world. We are the beneficiaries of the efforts and
love and compassion and hard work of many generations of human beings from all
over this planet, and we need to keep that in mind if we're to
truly appreciate our gifts. And most of us need a reminder
now and again of just how blessed we are--and this holiday helps
to remind us to be thankful, and of our responsibility to share
our blessings with others.
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What
happened in the past that was painful has a great deal to do with
what we are today, but revisiting this painful past can contribute
little or nothing to what we need to do now.
William Glasser
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Personally,
I would be fine with no longer teaching young people
the revisionist history that we've taught and been
taught for so long. I would be fine with
teaching about this holiday as a modern holiday
dedicated to the concept of gratitude for things
like our prosperity, our safety, our connections
with each other. Because it is a different
holiday than it used to be. That wouldn't
change the awful aspects of our past, but at least
we wouldn't be sugar-coating them and pretending
they didn't happen. And we wouldn't constantly
be reminding the Native Americans of just how much
their people have lost over the last four hundred
years.
There are no perfect answers to anything, of
course. But I know that this Thanksgiving, I'm
going to be thankful, and I'm going to share those
thanks with others--and I'll start right here,
thanking you for being here and being a part of this
amazing human race that's living on this amazing
planet that we call home. I really do
appreciate your presence.
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More
on the past.
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If you
concentrate on finding
whatever is good in every
situation, you will discover
that your life will suddenly
be filled with gratitude, a
feeling that nurtures the soul.
Harold Kushner
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My
Thanksgiving
Don Henley
Well, a lot of things have happened
Since
the last time we spoke
Some
of them are funny
Some
of them ain't no joke
And
I trust you will forgive me
If
I lay it on the line
I
always thought you were a friend of mine
And
sometimes I think about you
I
wonder how you're doing, now
And
what you're going through
'Cause
the last time I saw you, we were playing with fire
We
were loaded with passion and a burning desire
For
every breath, for every day of living
And
this is my thanksgiving
Now,
the trouble with you and me, my friend
Is
the trouble with this nation
Too
many blessings, too little appreciation
And
I know that kind of notion, well, it just ain't cool
So
send me back to Sunday school
Because
I'm tired of waiting for reason to arrive
And
it's too long we've been living these unexamined lives
'Cause
I've got great expectations, I've got family and friends
I've
got satisfying work, I've got a back that bends
For
every breath, for every day of living
This
is my thanksgiving
And
have you noticed that an angry man
Can
only get so far?
Until
he reconciles the way he thinks things ought to be
With
the way things are
Here
in this fragmented world, I still believe
In
learning how to give love, how to receive it
And
I would not be among those who abuse this privilege
Sometimes
you get the best light from a burning bridge
And
I don't mind saying that I, I still love it all
I
wallowed in the springtime
Now,
I'm welcoming the fall
For
every moment of joy, every hour of fear
For
every winding road that brought me here
For
every breath, for every day of living
This
is my thanksgiving
For
everyone who helped me start
And
for everything that broke my heart
For
every breath, for every day of living
This
is my Thanksgiving
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Giving
Thanks
Joanne Shenandoah
In respect to our
home, the Earth, we say "Thank You"
to the Earth for everything that she gives to us, nourishing us
every day.
We give thanks to all the water in the world, everything within that
water.
We give thanks to all the grass that lives on the land.
We give thanks to all the berries, the fruits, the medicines.
We give thanks to the animals that keep the forest clean.
We give thanks to all the trees, for the different uses that they
give to us:
for shelters, fires that we make at home at night keeping us warm.
We give thanks to the birds who sing their beautiful songs.
We give thanks to the four winds.
We give thanks to the grandfathers, the ones that bring the rain,
And we give thanks to our oldest brother the sun,
who shines his light every day.
We give thanks to our oldest grandmother the moon, for she is the
one who has been charged with the duty to make sure that light has a
continuance; she is the one that watches over all the movements of
the water, and also the water within us.
We give thanks to the stars her helpers, and we give special
thanksgiving to the four sacred beings that watch over the human
family. Sometimes we notice them when we are traveling in
dangerous places; they are the ones that come to our minds and say
"Go around, don't go any further."
So that's what
they're there for: to protect us, steer us away from danger.
So that's what we do--we start right from the Earth, and we climb a
ladder, right to the special place beyond the heavens, where there's
a special spirit that lives there, the spirit that made it possible
for us to be here, and everything that we've mentioned. And so
with the collectiveness of our minds and hearts, we send a special
thanksgiving and greeting to the Great Spirit of us all.
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Life without
thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without
thankfulness
is lacking in fine perception. Faith without
thankfulness lacks strength
and fortitude. Every virtue divorced
from thankfulness is maimed
and limps along the spiritual road.
John Henry
Jewett
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