This Monday marks Thanksgiving in Canada. It is one of my favourite celebrations since it’s inclusive of everyone and asks us to look at what we are thankful for in our lives.
Gratitude seems to be a buzz word since Oprah ‘out-ed’ it as the thing to do. It’s actually been something many of us were doing before it was the latest fad in personal growth! (I say this with a cynicism only because it felt more sacred to me before everyone began to spout it as a new thing.)
Being thankful has been a part of the human race for a very long time. (And anyone who grew up in a spiritual or religious home – as I happened to be – likely does it without much thought; at minimum before every meal.)
Thanksgiving, therefore, to me is a grand expression of this. It is a whole day and perhaps a whole weekend of filling ourselves up with all that is meaningful. Wow.
My concern about this “new gratitude”…
You may not feel this way so disregard it if you don’t. I am aware it is semantics but you may find some truth in my observation.
The gratitude that’s been heralded by the new age movement seems to be about searching for nice thoughts when life feels crappy and you’re going through stuff that you have no desire to go through. Then, you’re supposed to think about all that is good and forget your pain.
Where this becomes a problem is that gratitude lists are often created from the mind – let me think about what I should be grateful for and write it down – a mechanical exercise.
There is a danger in that experience. It can keep you pretending that things are ok when they are not. It can keep you smiling or silent when you are suffering. It can have you feeling guilty to want more, for things to be better, to go for what you truly know is right – because you should be grateful!! Just wait…one day it’ll be better…just deal with it…after all, you are in the developed world, what is there to complain about…who do you think you are? It can keep you in your head, separate from actual truth, which creates pain.
Being Thankful as a Daily Balm…
Meanwhile, the thankfulness through prayer that I grew up to know felt more like a daily balm of love, a true appreciation for the foundational and important things in life (feeling thanks for daily bread, for loved ones, for a home, for work).
Prayer hands held at the heart took you into it to feel. The thankfulness came from within.
This daily recognition created strength, courage, and a trusting that you will always be provided for in the end. It helped our ancestors go forth to blaze trails. And it fuels me.
Thankfulness leads to Courage
This latter piece is why I chose to write this today. What has given me the courage to make some seemingly ‘risky’ choices in my life is the feeling of being blessed every day and believing that I am not alone and no matter who may not stand by my side as I do what I do, the blessings come from elsewhere and that is the only ‘place’ to which I’m accountable.
{Yes, I do call that God. If you have another sacred Name or are an atheist, then edit accordingly. We all have something or someone who has the final word that we trust.}
Go there to make your choices.
When you go to that ‘end’, then there is no question about courage. All that I typically write about is do-able with this belief. One employer is not the ONLY source of money. One client is not the ONLY source of business. One person is not the ONLY source of love or acceptance.
We will be provided for when we take the steps to honour our deepest desires, to listen to our truth, to desire what we want, to step forward with bravery and dare to claim a beautiful life.
And on the tough days, we can love ourselves with the daily balm of thanks, knowing that it is not a false soother, but the stuff that gives us courage to take the next step into our greatest self. That’s what being thankful is for – to be the best version of ourselves.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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Feeling the Courage?
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