Let’s Bring Thanksgiving Day Into Each and Every Day!
By Tim E. Renzelmann
I hope many of you had a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend! As expected, my Thanksgiving weekend was different than any in the past... but the words of Irene Peter that I previously wrote about rang true - “Just because everything is different doesn’t mean anything has changed!”
I had a personal experience which I will probably expound upon at some point in the near future that offered some insights of gratitude and appreciation. In the meantime, since you last heard from me (November 24th) several pieces came to my attention from some of my cherished sources:
November 25th: From The Greater Good Science Center comes this piece by clinical psychologist Nathan Greene who lost his mother when he was a teen, which inspired him to research the connection between grief and gratitude.
“Gratitude can come in the experience of NOT having, too, in reflecting on what we did have in the past and what we hope to have in the future.” – Nathan Greene
November 25th – One of my favorite authors, eco-psychologist Philip Chard reminded us in this piece in The Shephard what “should” perhaps be our greatest gratitude... and what we “should” do to show that gratitude:
“When we sit for our Thanksgiving meal, bow our heads and speak our gratitude, there will be an invisible presence at the table – the life force. If we pause quietly, we can feel it coursing through our veins, in the rhythmic beating of our hearts and the cadence of our breathing. Looking at loved ones, we see it sparkle in their eyes, hear its energy in their laughter. This mysterious whatever-it-is that innervates our physical forms is, at the most essential level, the same power coursing through the planet, maintaining, via a vast and intricate web, the circle of life. We are embedded in and utterly dependent on this force. – Philip Chard
https://shepherdexpress.com/advice/out-of-my-mind/learning-from-the-wisdom-of-nature/
November 26th – In this day’s TED Talks Daily e-mail, Sri Lankan monk JayaShri Maathaa was featured and she offered an eloquently simple talk (that is just four-minutes long) that describes two magical words of gratitude that invite bliss, joy and harmony between us and all that surrounds us!
“When you say, “thank you,” it creates a harmony between you and the external condition under observation. It helps you to bring attention inwards. It may be initially just a word running in your head without a true feeling of gratitude in your heart. A word is a sound, and a sound is a vibration, and a vibration creates energy. So, when you keep thinking, “Thank you,” after a while, that energy starts penetrating your heart center and the rest of your body.” – JayaShri Maathaa.
https://www.ted.com/talks/jayashri_maathaa_a_magical_mantra_for_nurturing_a_blissful_life
As I, personally, reflect over much of 2021, I realize that I missed out on many opportunities to really appreciate what I have nor or what I once had, I have often failed to recognize that “mysterious whatever it is” life force of nature that permeates our planet and our very being, and I have missed out on countless opportunities to simply say THANK YOU! I pledge to try to do better!