Thanks Everybody

Thanks Everybody

"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice."
-Meister Eckhart

Thanksgiving Day is a major holiday in the United States. What a lucky thing for the US. It is not a religious holiday, but it carries as much spiritual significance as a secular holiday can. It is about being thankful. Nobody says what you have to be thankful for. The holiday tradition just suggests that you get together with some people you care about, eat some food and be grateful.

Gratitude is a primary emotion and one that is tied to the experience of joy. A person can’t be grateful and not have some level of pleasant emotion in the process. People who make a habit of counting their blessings tend to be happier than those who don’t.* It is right to give thanks. It is also a good idea.If one were to make a list of one’s blessings, it could be endless. The list of things to be grateful for is only limited by our imaginations. There are innumerable sentient beings, physical objects, social systems, and natural phenomena that support us. In the spiritual realm, one can only try to imagine what benefits we reap beyond the reach of our senses.

We are not in this life alone. We may be lonely, but we do not stand on your own. We are in this with a lot of other people who give their labor and their caring in ways that make our lives possible. Some people, relatives and friends perhaps, contribute directly to our well-being. Millions of others unknown to us contribute to the web of life that supports us. It is good to recall that we can’t do it all alone. We are connected, even if we tend to forget that. We are each being assisted in ways we don’t know and can’t imagine. Recognizing our interdependence is a key to enlightenment, according to many of those who have attained it.Thanksgiving can be an opportunity to loosen our grip on ego. It places us in relationship to the mysterious collection of happy accidents that led to us being at this place at this moment. It invites us to marvel at what is good in life.

Practice:

Take time this week to contemplate all that you have to be grateful for and give thanks.
Be thankful for all the blessings you have received and will receive.
Consider writing a list of things you are grateful for. Consider doing this on a regular basis. Maybe every day.Thank people who have helped you or have somehow made your life better. Do it verbally or in writing or by action.Pray as an act of giving thanks.