I love the very specific felt-sense surrounding the holiday of Thanksgiving. For me it has little to do with eating or parades, and nothing to do multiple football games. There is energy around and permeating it that I have grown to deeply relish. It wasn’t always so. It used to be the precursor to the far more elaborate Christmas season. Symbolically, the Macy’s parade said it all: get through Thanksgiving and on to Santa!
The Thanksgiving energy that is so precious to me now is the result of some very specific practices. I have shared many of these practices with the church that I now lead. I have for the past three years invited those interested into an experience I call the “Grat-I-Challenge.” There are seven practices that I invite our congregation to engage in, practices that have literally created new grooves in my consciousness over the years. I do not only engage in these during November. I do intensify them during this season. They are very specific ways of expressing gratitude not only to others but also to ourselves.
During November I contact at least one person per day to directly express how much they mean to me. I call, write, or email. I put my thankfulness into words, and I make sure I am heard.
I keep a daily gratitude journal, something I have done all year for many years.
I make multiple donations to organizations that mean something to me. I do that in the name of others, and at least once as a way of honoring myself.
I give added attention everyday actively looking for things in life to thank. This is by no means limited to people. I thank birds, trees, bodies of water, lattes, whatever. It feels fantastic to me, and I know it energetically touches whatever I am blessing.
I also specifically look for the blessing I know is contained within every challenge. Because of Grace, everything is God-permeated. Nothing happens outside of Source. In that recognition I thank in advance the inherent blessing in everything that happens. I thank the Good that is bound to appear.
These are some of the ways I turn Thanksgiving into Thanks-Living! I am committed to live IN a state of thankfulness. Gratitude as context. Blessing as a state of being. When I am spiritually awake I am grateful. It is a perfect barometer.
And so it is from this place of inner Thanks-Living that I wish you a most rich and profound Thanksgiving holiday. Be sure to take a moment during it and thank yourself for being yourself. You are a precious gift of life to life. There is only one of you. I am grateful for our connection.
