THANK YOU, GRACIAS, MERCI, GRAZIE

The fourth Thursday of November is “Thanksgiving Day” in the United States and Canada, an important holiday celebrating the harvest and other blessings of the year. It is a holiday particularly rich in legend and symbolism and is characterized by a large meal in the company of family and friends. It is a day to be grateful and celebrate all the blessings on our lives. Other countries may or may not have an official holiday day to celebrate this day and may or may not celebrate it as big as Americans and Canadians do, but most of them do have a religious or secular day to give thanks.

Although it is important to have a dedicated day to give thanks, in reality, we should be grateful every day and every single moment of our lives. When all we see is negativity, when we take things for granted, when we victimize ourselves, and when we are so busy that we do not have time to reflect about life, little room is left for gratitude.

We, humans, tend to emphasize negative experiences because they are more vivid in our minds than the positive ones and because they have a greater impact and tend to remain deep inside of us longer. Because of these and many other reasons, to be grateful is not natural for most of us, but with some practice, we can change and make a difference in our lives and the lives of those around us. To do so, we must emphasize more positive events and experiences and de-emphasize the negative ones. Basically, we need to rewire our brain to focus on the positive.

When talking about gratitude, many people would say, “what is there to be grateful for right now? We are being hit hard by a pandemic, businesses are closing, food is scarce, livelihood is in jeopardy, our freedom is a stake, and many people are suffering badly. And this is just now, in this moment, around us. We are not counting the steady pain and suffering around the world caused by natural disasters, famish, displacement, wars, abuse, injustice, and so on.”

But regardless of all these reasons, most people have something to be grateful for. There will always be something negative that we can latch on to. This is not a perfect world by any means. But instead of latching on to the negative, we need to latch on to the positive. To do that, we must first learn to be appreciative. Appreciation is the recognition and enjoyment of the good qualities of someone or something. When we are appreciative, only then can we be grateful!

We are all thankful to some degree. For some people, life is a punishment and there is nothing to be thankful for. For others, they are only grateful when things are going well for them and/or when they get what they want. For many others, they are generally grateful in their daily lives because of their beliefs or religious influences. Finally, for a few, very few, they are thankful all the time and for everything.

In spite of the category where you think you fit best, most of us can easily come up with at least 10 things daily that we can be grateful for, including the fact that we are alive, our family, friends, work, food, roof, transportation, intelligence, health, and knowledge/skills. We can also can be grateful for many other things like the fact that we can exercise, walk, speak, have freedom, read, breath fresh air, be safe, sleep, have time off, go on vacation, love, travel, cry, feel, enjoy sunrises and sunsets, grab hands with love ones, dance, sing, paint, smile, have a job, run, hike, climb, learn, have children, go to the mountains or the ocean, listen to music, etc., etc., etc.

When you are appreciative, you can be grateful. When you are grateful, you can be kind. And when you are appreciative, grateful and kind, you get connected to something greater than you. As a consequence, your wellbeing, mental health, relationships, self-esteem, happiness, motivation and even sleep are boosted. When you live in a state of gratitude, your overall view of life changes. Life itself and everything in it become a miracle. There is always something new to discover and be thankful for. Just give life a change to unfold in front of you as is and enjoy its intelligence, magnificence, abundance, complexity and beauty!

A Thank You Mantra, Poem or Prayer

Thank you, <God, Universe, Universal Consciousness, etc. or just simple thank you>, for another day and another opportunity to make a difference in my life and the life of others;

Thank you, Mother Earth, for being the source of life and for providing us with everything we need to sustain a healthy life;

Thank you to all the resources (animals, plants, and things) for sacrificing your life and freedom for our wellbeing;

Thank you to all the hands that have helped in the process to make this meal, job, relationship, business or pleasure a reality;

Thank you to my parents, masters, teachers and to all those who have lend me a hand in my growth;

Thank you to my experiences because it is only through them that I can learn and grow;

May all my actions lead to the wellbeing of everyone and everything;

May peace and compassion fill our hearts; and

May we all live in gratitude.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Gratitude is the process of stop wanting and start appreciating! To be grateful is to recognize that we are part of something bigger than us! A meaningful thank you is an expression of kindness and humbleness! The first and last words of the day should be “Thank you”! The simplest mantra or prayer you can ever say is “Thank you”! Thankfulness is fulfillment without owning anything! Gratitude is the key to un-entanglement! A loving heart can only express gratitude and kindness!

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Author: Maurice Correa
Website: pathtoone.com
Blog: p2oblog.blogspot.com