Thanksgiving has come and gone. We were thankful for our blessings – of family and friends. We expressed our gratitude, didn’t we? But now, it seems, that the gratitude we felt has somehow dissipated, disappeared or even forgotten. It’s time to resume our daily routine and further prepare for Christmas/Hanukkah or whatever we choose to celebrate. We busy ourselves with daily tasks – working, shopping, decorating, preparing for the next holiday. Instead of enjoying the season and its true rhythm, meaning and purpose, we take on additional responsibilities and oblugations for which we are ill-prepared . We push ourselves to prepare for and share in the joys and meaningfulness of the holidays.
We look around us. We listen to the news. We see poverty and illness, tragedy and poverty, conflict, war and violence all over the world. We see suffering and breathe with relief that we are not among those starving, diseased, thirsty and homeless. Certainly, it is far easier to look at our own circumstances with relief and gratitude. Yet we are empathetic and feel the suffering borne by our brothers and sisters. We are not alone and isolated. We share the pain and suffering with our fellow humans and would do anything in our power to alleviate or lessen the burden our brethren bear. We are far from immune, as we are increasingly aware of how ANY suffering impacts us.
We know our world is changing, evolving, and that all we are experiencing serves to make us stronger, wiser and greater. We are ever growing, growing, growing in spiritual understanding and awareness.
Don’t you think it wise to keep gratitude in our constant consciousness? It helps keep anger, frustration and sadness somewhat at bay and makes our hurts and disappointments much less acute and more manageable.
‘Tis the season to be jolly” – but not artificially or through contrivance. But rather, because there is so much beauty, so much joy and love, so much to appreciate in the world in which we live. There is beauty in virtually every aspect of life – friendship, music, art, architecture, one another, and, of course nature. Seek it out… Keep it as your constant friend and companion…