Are You Prepared for Thanksgiving or Other Celebratory Gathering?

Here in the United States, we are about to gather for Thanksgiving, so I have focused this week’s message on that. However, everything said can apply to any celebratory gathering.

“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”

-?????? Attributed to Meister Eckhart, a German theologian, philosopher and mystic

Thank you.

We can allow “thank you” to be a way to stand in relationship with the world. A “place” from which we operate as we engage.

What if we said thank you in all circumstances? How could we? What is the context within which thank you could always be offered?

We can say thank you as we experience various encounters and circumstances, no matter what our thoughts are about a situation, feeling or the behavior of a person. We tend to say thank you only for what we like, and we don’t say thank you for what we don’t like.

Yet, everything that comes to us originates from the same place, is made of the same substance, the same intelligence, i.e., Source, Spirit, Consciousness, Awareness, The Universe, whatever your name for it is.

When we like some things and not others and want some things in our lives and wish others would go away, we might remember that it already exists as an expression of Consciousness/Source.

I invite you to let that sink in. Something has appeared that we tell ourselves we don’t like and/or we don’t like. Yet, it’s already here! Liking it or disliking it won’t change that.

When I say no to an experience, I am resisting it, which actually creates more pain and suffering.

I can remember that this – whatever this is – already exists as an expression of Infinite Intelligence, the Source of all. I might not understand why it is this way, but I can accept that it exists and that it arose from the same Infinite Intelligence that is me – and you.

Why say thank you to a circumstance we aren’t happy with? Thank you acknowledges the gift of the experience. I am experiencing life.

When I express thank you, I become open to gifts that that experience is offering. Paradoxically, saying thank you allows those feelings and experiences we don’t like to move more easily out of our experience and feelings.

Thank you, thank you, thank you is something we can say to ourselves over and over.

If I’m having what I interpret to be a “bad” day, I say thank you for everything. Sincerely, with the feeling of thank you. After a while, my mood and experience shift dramatically.

That being said, it might take hundreds of times greeting traditionally unwelcome experiences with thank you before you actually feel thank you. Your conditioning takes a while to move out of your body.

So, what does all of this have to do with Thanksgiving?

The media loves to help us get ready for our gatherings by implying they will be fraught with Drunk Uncle Bob, political arguments, and other family angst.

Spiritual leader Ram Dass once said, “If you think you are enlightened, spend a week with your family.”

We can set all of that “conditioning” aside.

Great mystics, wisdom teachers, current science – and our own experience if we sincerely look – offer that we are all OneBeing, one interconnected, intimate, infinite being. Our minds and bodies seem to understand and engage differently than what these teachings impart, yes.

But as we explore the truth of who we are, we find that our minds and bodies have been conditioned to believe, experience and act in alignment with our conditioning, not with the reality that is being revealed to us today.

Spending a week with our families may actually be a huge opportunity to remember this understanding of our shared being and practice being thankful, instead of the proverbial, “let’s just get through this.” And, if you usually have wonderful experiences during the holiday, this message might be an opportunity to create an even more wonderful experience.

I’m not suggesting political discussions!

What I am proposing is that we remember who we are and who everyone we are with is: One Divine Being, expressing itself in millions of unique and diverse ways. Mom, Dad, Sister, Uncle, Cousin, neighbor-from-down-the-street, college-kid-home-for-the-holidays, homeless-person-in-the-church-dining-hall.

We can see them and engage with them with this knowing.

Here’s how you can prepare for Thanksgiving.

Begin to live what we know is true – today. Right now. With everyone you see, work with, interact with, live with. When you look in the mirror, remind yourself who you are.

Throughout the day, remember to see the Divine Being “others” are and act accordingly. Say thank you as experiences and events come to you, move through you.

None of this is to say that if something is inappropriate or is to be addressed, that you ignore it. No, we still say thank you while we address the situation with the love, peace and fulfillment we essentially are. We are much better at attending to concerns when we begin with the being we are rather than reacting.

May you experience the most loving, peaceful and fulfilling Thanksgiving (or other celebratory gathering) yet!

1.???? Remember who you truly are: Source, Divine Spirit, Consciousness, Awareness, i.e., OneBeing.

2.???? Remember who “others” are: Source, Divine Spirit, Consciousness, Awareness, i.e., OneBeing.

3.???? Say thank you.

If you want to explore living your life and/or leading your organization aligned with peace and wisdom, I am available to explore the various paths that can be helpful, whether working with me or not.

These are the ways I work:

·????? One-on-one guiding and coaching with a customized program that is unique to you.

·????? For organizations, group programs designed to meet your needs.

·????? With you and others in an ongoing group program that integrates theory and practice – the Wisdomary Leading Praxis.

Please message me or email me at [email protected] and we will schedule a time to talk.