Are you aware that giving thanks to nature, people and God (s) has been such an important act in our lives since ancient times? Our ancestors (from different cultures around the world) recognized that being thankful to the universe was essential to life. These days, thanks to scientific research, we know that our ancestors were on the right path, expressing gratitude is beneficial for our mind, body, spirit, and of course, to our relationship with others.
Some things I do on Thanksgiving Day, and I try to do every day
Reflect on your abundance:I love to meditate on the many things I am grateful for, small and big things that happened to me during the year that is ending. For instance, I evaluate how my life has transformed during this year, how much I have evolved spiritually, the loving lessons I learned on my mind, body, spirit, and God; and on everyone who contributed to this transformation.
Give thanks: to people, nature, the living Divine Force (God), etc. You can do it face to face, in writing, or mentally. You can be thankful to somebody who lives close to you or far away from you, to someone who lives in the physical world or in the immaterial world. Give thanks for the past, present and future, for all and everything.
Give thanks to yourself: Be thankful to you, appreciate yourself for all your efforts in transforming, evolving, and creating a more beautiful life for you and the world.
Say thanks in your daily life: On Thanksgiving day I also make sure that I am still pronouncing the word “thanks.” As many of you know, I spent my childhood and early 20s in a South American culture that taught me to say thanks to people everywhere and every day. It was so natural to say “thanks,” that when somebody had forgotten to say it, we would notice it immediately. Now, I know that it was one of the things that kept us alive, joyful, and optimistic in spite of the instabilities we had to experience every day in our economically underdeveloped culture.
Teach how to say “thanks”
Sometimes, I ask myself: What is happening in our contemporary culture? Why is it that these days I find more and more children, and some young adults, who do not express gratitude? I wonder if nobody is teaching them how to appreciate the things they receive from others and/or if they are learning to take things for granted. So, I have decided that after I help a child or an adolescent and I don’t hear the word “thanks” in return, I usually ask: “Did you say thank you?” “What do you say?” In other cases, I just instruct them to say: “thanks.” I love it when they say “thank you,” I know they feel better after saying it.
Give Thanks for all the positive and all the negative
This is one of the lessons I treasure from my mother and my Andean culture of origin, and something I have sometimes forgotten during my travel around North America.
It is probably easier to give thanks for things that we evaluate as positive or good, than for things we evaluate as negative experiences in our lives. Expressing gratitude for all the good things in our lives will bring us more positive emotions, better health and happiness to us; but, what about the negative things that are happening or happened to us (divorce, loss of a love one, loss of job, not much money, betrayals, negative criticism, etc.)? Give thanks for them too; not because you like the negative experiences and you want them to happen again; but because those experiences are teaching you valuable life lessons.
Do not get me wrong, I know how difficult it can be to say thanks to life or the Universe for the “negative” experiences, especially when you do not understand what is going on at that moment; but, as I have learned it, saying “thanks” to life (for the lessons) during difficult situations in life, will bring you peace, and allow you to pass the pain you are feeling at that moment and to focus on examining your situation (and everybody involved in it) more carefully.
So, this Thanksgiving holiday, and every day, I encourage you to give thanks, not just for the positive things that are happening in your life, but also for the “negative” experiences, because, eventually, they will transform into positive spiritual lessons that will help you create and live a better life.
Thank you for all your love, and Happy Thanksgiving Day!
Flower
“For each new morning with its light, for rest and shelter of the night, for health and food, for love and friends, for everything Thy goodness sends.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”Albert Schweitzer
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