Happy Thanksgiving Day everyone!
I hope that you are having or you have had a wonderful day with your loved ones.
Thanksgiving Day is a tradition that’s now getting established more and more in London and other parts of the UK.
Personally I feel it’s a great idea to have one day of the year when we are thankful and we celebrate all the good things in our life.
I have previously written about cultivating an attitude of gratitude – and today I invite you to get back into this way of being. And not just for today but everyday from now onwards.
Various spiritual masters teach us the importance of gratitude and being grateful for what we have.
Conversely, the law of attraction experts emphasise how we should spend our time in a state of gratitude so as to attract even more “good” things in our life – it is as if a higher power up there will appreciate your thankfulness and thereby send you more of the same!
I suggest that you be truly grateful without any expectations of more – it’s a feeling you can’t fake anyway.
Look back and remember a time when you felt truly grateful and thankful for something or someone. Maybe it was the sight of a stunning sunset, the touch of a lover, the laughter of a child. Or something someone did for you which just blew you away.
We can be grateful for the smallest gifts or something majestic. It is about connecting with something greater than us.
The point is that you don’t to be thankful just on a particular Thursday of a certain month. Why not be grateful every day of the year?
The ideal is to constantly live in a state of gratitude.
Now wouldn’t that be something! Maybe that’s what being enlightened would be like.
The moment you choose to live in a state of gratitude, you will begin to find more and more things to be grateful for. To give you some ideas, here’s a beautiful native Indian poem sent to me by an American friend this morning:-
To be a human is an honour, and we offer thanksgiving for all the gifts of life.
Mother Earth, we thank you for giving us everything we need.
Thank you deep blue waters around Mother Earth, for you are the force that takes thirst away from all living things.
We give thanks to green, green grasses that feel so good against our bare feet, for the cool beauty you bring to Mother Earth’s floor.
Thank you, good foods from Mother Earth, our life sustainers, for making us happy when we are hungry.
Fruits and berries, we thank you for your colour and sweetness.
We are thankful to good medicine herbs, for healing us when we are sick.
Thank you, all the animals of the world, for keeping our precious forests clean.
All the trees of the world, we are thankful for the shade and warmth you give us.
Thank you all the birds in the world, for singing your beautiful songs for all to enjoy.
We give thanks to you gentle Four Winds, for bringing clean air for us to breathe from the four directions.
Thank you, Grandfather Thunder Beings, for bringing rains to help all living things grow.
Elder Brother Sun, we send thanks for shining your light and warming Mother Earth.
Thank you Grandmother Moon, for growing full every month to light the darkness for children and sparkling waters.
We give you thanks, twinkling stars, for making the night sky so beautiful and sprinkling morning dew drops on the plants.
Spirit Protectors of our past and present we thank you for showing us ways to live in peace and harmony with one another.
And most of all, thank you Great Spirit, for giving us all these wonderful gifts, so we will be happy and healthy every day and every night.
(Translation by Chief Jake Swamp)
There you are – we all have so much to be grateful for in our lives.
On this day of thankfulness what are you grateful for?
How will you bring more gratitude into your life from today?
Please do also check out my series of 5 articles for thanksgiving week from a year ago:
Thanksgiving Week Lesson 1 – How To Embrace What You Already Have
Thanksgiving Week Lesson 2 – How To Let Yourself Give and Receive
Thanksgiving Week Lesson 3 – How To Add a Little Sizzle to Your Relationships
Thanksgiving Week Lesson 4 – How To Harvest the Wisdom from My Top Blogger Friends
Thanksgiving Week Lesson 5 – How to Serve Others at the Global Table
Hi Arvind,
Living in a state of gratitude allows me to embrace the moment as it is presented, to open my heart to flow, to enjoy each experience fully, “fearlessly” because in the space of gratitude there is no room for fear. I think so often we are afraid of “comfort”..I challenge us all to create from a space of knowing that we are enough and that we have enough *right now in this moment* as we are..create from a place of comfort. Imagine the shift that cultivating gratitude would allow for if we opened our hearts to the possibility each moment!
Joy, I can just about imagine what it would be like to create from a place of knowing that we are enough and we have enough right now in this moment.
It feels blissful to in a state of gratitude and having our hearts open to the possibilities that lie within each moment.
As you embark on your new life, I look forward to learning more and more from you about living in and creating from that place of joy:-)
I agree with having an attitude of gratitude. It is a wonderful mindset to have. … and to exercise. The beauty of this life is that we are faced with challenges that offer us opportunities to expand our capacity to express gratitude. The poem that you have provided is a wonderful example of that. Though the earth, the sun and the elements can provide many challenges for us human beings, we can still find aspects in which we can be grateful. …and truly bask in their beauty.
Ajen, I am glad you liked the poem.
At the end of the day, it’s all about looking for things to be grateful in any “adversity or challenge” and basking in all the beauty all around us.