Giving Thanks is in the Air: 7 Thoughts to Ponder about Giving

I am not American, don't celebrate thanksgiving and when I lived in the US, never understood the reason for it.  Even non-Americans I knew celebrated it by eating that ghastly, dry bird.

Everything was so commercial and the excess routine - like Christmas and the fake valentine's day sales and celebrations - I never saw the sense in it.

But something is very different this year. It's palpable in the States from the way my friends and family speak and act. And it's a bit like that over here in Europe as well. I think giving thanks is in the air.

When you feel gratitude, often you are looking at a difficulty that you have overcome, but there is still some of that "struggle" vibration present.  The state of appreciation is seeing whatever you are looking at through the eyes of Source...  You could walk down a crowded street with all kinds of things that a lot of other people would find reason to criticize or worry about, and you would not have access to them because your vibration of appreciation is picking out for you things of a different vibrational nature.  Abraham/Hicks

Happiness depends on your awareness in the moment. People have the strange idea that when you're happy it means you "have no problems". That's nonsense of course. Life is made up of challenges. We need them to push us forward to want more and do more and be more.

Notice I didn't use the word "problems" which has a very negative connotation. We can all overcome challenges, problems are harder. It's all in how we look at, think and act on challenges that makes the difference in the outcome, and to our happiness level.

To be happy, enjoy what you do.  Live life every day because you are life! So says Eckhart Tolle.

Whenever I'm out and about, I sing out loud regardless of how I feel emotionally. Strange but true. I have to sing but that doesn't mean I'm not feeling crappy for whatever reason I concocted. Understand what I mean?

 

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.  Albert Schweitzer 

Saying "thank you" is small, finite really, considering the size of the average dictionary; yet it packs a wallop on an energetic level that it's hard to beat. It makes people feel good. They smile.

Look people in the eyes when you say it. Practise this not only during your interactions with others but with yourself as well. And put aside ten minutes every day to think, speak out loud, and write down, all that you're grateful for in your day. And smile wide...

I've come up with a list of 7 thoughts to ponder about giving since that's where my mind is at right now. Notwithstanding Thanksgiving celebrations. I find the posts quite striking on many levels and I hope at least one stirs you.

1 - Thanksgiving - Paying It Forward - James M Lynch of DoItYourselfLifeCoach talks about his new twist on paying it forward. He asks dinner guests to give thanks for the coming year.

I love this idea. I participated in a similar dinner a few christmases ago. We each wrote a letter to ourself one year ahead relating all the great things that had happened to us. We sealed and addressed the envelopes and returned them to our hostess, who kept and posted them to us on the same date one year later.

So go ahead, pay it forward to yourself, family and friends. Don't hold back. See what you can create.

2 - Are You Greedy or Just Grateful - Russell Bishop - exhorting us all to get off our "buts" and act. Things only happen when you act. Thought creates the right "environment" for things to happen. Wonderfully fiery!

3 -  10 Ways to Get More Energy by Being Thankful - Anne Naylor

4 -  How to Forgive and Be Happy Now - Anne Naylor - without forgiveness there is no gratitude.

5 - Papertrain your Relatives for Thanksgiving - Mark Goulston - an incredibly effective way of handling difficult relatives and friends you would rather not invite but have for get-togethers. It might help keep the dysfunctional, push-button, knee-jerk reactions to a minimum.

6 - Giving Thanks for The One - Judith Rich - this is my top post pick for 2009. It is a must read article! Bare-knuckled, no holds barred, in your face and get down to it now kind of talk. It's contagious too, so be careful.

7 - Grace and Gratitude at Thanksgiving - Ed Gurowitz - asks the question "am I truly giving?".

And now, here's Matt with his Gratitude Dance around the world.

Being grateful is a way to be expansive, especially when we are feeling lacking, negative, cast down. Great-fullness.  Anne Naylor

Gratitude, as I have said before is an integral part of everyday spirituality. Go practise!

So, tell me dear reader, how do you give thanks for YOU? Do you intend to start a new ritual by yourself, with family and friends on something that has meaning for you? What does giving mean to you, and how do you give? Because it not written in stone anywhere that giving has to be physical. YOU come first. It would be wonderful to hear from you!

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