Sisters 4 Healthy Living

Sisters 4 Healthy Living

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The Practice of Gratitude


The Practice of Gratitude

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday.  It hasn’t been politicized and it has remained non-denominational.  Turkey is cheap and you can make the celebration as low key as you want.  Hallmark sells a few cards but the holiday seems to survive largely based on a desire by Americans to preserve a tradition over 400 years old. 


Now I could easily get sidetracked into a rant about how far we have strayed from the original Thanksgiving Dinner – as if anyone really knows what happened back in 1621 but I'm willing to bet that Black Friday was not part of the celebration.  I know you all will be thankful if I avoid that.  So, I’ll just say that the meal the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians shared at Plymouth was probably a harvest celebration.  You meat lovers will be happy to know that the menu would almost certainly have been dominated by meat, mostly wild game.  The events of the “first Thanksgiving” have become highly romanticized but the sentiment and tradition of a fall feast and being thankful has, thankfully, survived.


Kahlil Gibran, a Lebanese-American author who lived from 1883 to 1931, wrote, "Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving."  What a wonderful way to start a day.  Not with worry or reluctance but with joy at the prospect of loving the people, creatures and, indeed, the world around you.  With that thought in your mind and in your heart, a smile will naturally come to your lips.  By being thankful for the day to come without knowing what lies ahead, you have created a spiritual openness to receive even more blessings.

I write in a prayer journal every night.  At least once a week I write down everything that comes to mind that I am thankful for.  At times it takes a while to fill the page but when I’m done, I feel thankful for the act of being thankful.  I believe that by practicing gratitude I will attract more blessings to myself.


There maybe days when the most you’ll feel thankful for is the air you breathe but there will be other days when a baby gives you a smile, when you help someone by giving of yourself, or when the warm sunshine of a spring day kisses your face – days when you cannot count the many gifts for which you are grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, and may the practice of gratitude bring you even more to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day and every day.



To your health,

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