Every Thanksgiving, I mention to my family and our guests, that I do my absolute best to be thankful every day, not just on Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving, I came to realize that, in the process of doing my best to live in the moment, Thanksgiving is, TOO, a day to say again how thankful I am. Think about what Henry David Thoreau said: “I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.” Katrina Mayer concurs: "Thanksgiving isn't just a day. It's a way we can live our lives every day."
In reading each of these, I began asking myself “HOW can I be thankful, without even trying, every day”. As is our human experience, we live in a world that is based on “cause and effect” and “instant gratification”. So, I’d like you to join with me, from this day forward, to live, not only consciously, but consciously thankful, by adopting these three (3) truths:
Being thankful transcends time and space. Most of what we are thankful for today didn’t just happen today or even recently but comes from each of our lives’ experiences. MY thankfulness can be traced back to my grandparents and great grandparents, what being around them instilled in me, and what I learned from them. Being thankful can start with something as simple as a heartfelt gesture and “paying it forward” – DOING something that might not result in a ‘thank you’. What will YOU do to set thankfulness in motion?
Remember…what people actually REMEMBER. People don’t remember what you have said to them, or what you bought for them, or even what you did for them. What they REALLY remember, ultimately, is how you made them feel. Act accordingly.
Never forget what HOME REALLY is. As we come together, and we sit, here, surrounded by our family, remember that “home” is not this house, or the structure or WHERE each of us is located physically. We think about all our children in their homes or apartments and recall that they might say things like “I’m heading home”. Wilbur Nesbit said it best: “Forever on Thanksgiving the heart will find the pathway home.”
I encourage you to say what I said to our twenty (20) family members gathered around for our Thanksgiving feast: Home is family – welcome family…welcome HOME. Enjoy, have a Happy Thanksgiving, and may you live a life of being consciously thankful.