just be it It’s about the work involved in establishing a dedicated practice to feelings of a bigger belonging through practices aimed at increasing feelings of compassion, gratitude and forgiveness

Thanksgiving

Published on 26/11/08
by randy

Approaching Thanksgiving 2008 I can’t help but wonder where we focus our gratefulness.  In difficult economic times we seem to move from gratitude for our ‘stuff’ to gratitude for the opportunity to participate.  There’s new hope that we can participate in the operations of our family, community, state, nation and planet.  There seems to be deeper appreciation for what is working as we move from a nation of complaint to one of potential and possibility.

Can I daily hold a place of gratitude in my heart for the young?  They have so far to go and we’ve done so much damage.  Can I hold a place of gratitude for those in the middle?  They have to do the brunt of the work, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult in these times.  Can I hold gratitude for the elderly?  They’ve come so far, given so much, and contributed so much to my learning.

This Thanksgiving, may we hold space that Gratitude Practice become a regular curriculum in our educational system as we systematically examine what we’ve received from others, what we’ve given, and what we’ve done to trouble others.  This could be the single most important element to our true pursuit of happiness since joy is a necessary consequence of our gratefulness.  Yes, grateful for my stuff.  Yes, grateful to do what I can do. Yet, most grateful to ‘just be’.

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