Thursday, November 28, 2013

The Art of Living: Making Thanksgiving Matter


Making Thanksgiving Matter

I love Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday. This is a day filled with thoughts of gratitude, family and food; what’s not to like? (Okay, maybe the whole stealing of the land from the First Nation folks and all. As the saying goes; “If you look at anything too closely it will break your heart.”)

On this day, folks in the U.S take time out to actually articulate what they are grateful for. For a moment, the nation’s vibration is sky high and even without booze or the turkey’s tryptophan, we feel that everything good is possible.

Then just as quickly as it came, the feeling goes. Someone needs to stand in line for stuff they don’t really need, while grown men argue over a football game that is as predictable as the one from last year or the year to come. Someone will bring up ObamaCare also known as the Affordable HealthCare Act and all hell will break loose.

A kid who’s been watching it all will wonder if she will end up like this, but then will go back to making a list of more stuff that someone needs to stand in a line for.

A woman tired from cooking will wash dishes and wonder if the one who came with her son will offer to help her in the life she both loves and hates and no one’s even talking to grandma.

Still, this day brings us closer to seeing that we already have and are enough.

If we could just spend a little more energy on gratitude and a lot less on stuff, that vibration of endless possibility would linger and we could make the world a much better place.

So let’s you and I do what it takes to really turn the tables. Change only needs a few to get the movement started.

         Tell someone you love them.
Listen to an elder
Laugh with a child
Serve someone in need
Listen for ways to agree
Know that you are wonderful
Be grateful for all that already is
 
As my mother would say, today is just another (BLEEP) day; it’s you that makes it special.

Be you, be well, be full of thanks.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

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