by Marie Harger |
Why do we need a special day to be thankful—shouldn’t we be thankful everyday?
Thanksgiving has become one of those routine holidays; it happens every year around the same time and usually the same activities ensue. There is the typical food of Turkey, stuffing and pies. Each family repeats similar patterns of interacting (or not interacting) with family members and friends. There is often football on the television consuming and paralyzing the male species of the family and chatting mixed with cooking for the women. Not everyone’s holiday activities fall into this stereotypical image but it is certain there is a familiar path of fulfilling this tradition for all of us.
These patterns and the relational dynamics they generate, often involve the past. Are we living in the past; allowing the same situation to be recreated year after year? The past, whether it includes feelings you may consider good or bad, is over. Let it go. Come into the present moment with expressions of appreciation, kindness, generosity, gratitude and thankfulness.
Every moment provides an opportunity to make the decision to be thankful. Bring a feeling of appreciation into each and everyday. You can begin by waking in the morning with thoughts of being thankful. If there is someone in your family that rubs you the wrong way, focus on something about them you can be grateful for.
We are fortunate today to have access to sources of inspired thought and people who encourage us to embrace the spirit of gratitude and being thankful. For example, His Holiness the Dalai Lama shares his words, “Now, there are many, many people in the world, but relatively few with whom we interact, and even fewer who cause us problems.
So, when you come across such a chance for practicing patience and tolerance, you should treat it with gratitude. It is rare. Just as having unexpectedly found a treasure in your own house, you should be happy and grateful to your enemy for providing that precious opportunity.” And Dietrich Bonhoeffer further expresses gratitude with his quote, “In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”
Instead of letting what they speak of as being mere words, begin to cultivate within you a practice of being grateful, thankful and appreciative. It takes place in the thoughts you choose to hold and the actions you choose to take. Make the decision this Thanksgiving season to be thankful everyday not just once a year.
Beautiful faces are they that wear
The light of a pleasant spirit there;
Beautiful hands are they that do
Deeds that are noble, good and true;
Beautiful feet are they that go
Swiftly to lighten another’s woe.
(Poem from McGuffey’s second reader)
We wish you well and a very Happy Thanksgiving.
References:
- From “The Pocket Dalai Lama,” edited by Mary Craig, 2002. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Boston, www.shambhala.com.
- Bennett, William J. “The Book of Virtues,” Simon and Schuster, New York, London, 1993.
- www.famousquotes.com
