A Day, A Lifestyle
As seen on a local church sign:
Thanksgiving. It’s not a day. It’s a lifestyle.
I couldn’t agree more. The American holiday of Thanksgiving is a week from today. A day of feasting, football, family, finding time to give thanks and whatever other traditions your family enjoys. For some, it will be about new recipes, new dishes, new homes. For others, it will be a lonely day. Missing loved ones who can’t be together or grieving the death or loss of someone who was here last Thanksgiving. And for still others, it might be just another day or a day to rest up before Black Friday shopping.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, though it seems to get lost between the marketing mania of Halloween and Christmas. If you detect a hint of bitterness here, you are right. Maybe sadness more than bitterness. More, more, more sometimes leaves us feeling less, less, less content.
Landing back on the plentitude that already exists in my life tends to slow me down and help me return to priorities. If I only get physical exercise a day or a month each year, I don’t get many benefits from that, and I suffer the deficits of being sedentary the rest of the time.
If I only give grateful living my energy for a day or a month, I also deprive myself of wonderful benefits and suffer from lack. As Lynne Twist says “What we appreciate, appreciates.” It’s as simple as pausing to breathe in and breathe out a couple of times, giving thanks for air, lungs, this day. Or taking time to write a note to a friend or family member and pressing send or pressing a stamp on an envelope and dropping it in the mail.
It can be standing in a room in your house and looking around at all that you see there. Or appreciating the friendly and patient salesperson who helped you with a complicated purchase. Or the laughter of your grandchild or spouse or best friend. Maybe it is feeling the next few footfalls as you walk, or looking up at the sky when you step outside.
When I focus on what I don’t have, I feel strain. When I focus on what I do have, I feel calm.
Thanksgiving. It’s not a day. It’s a lifestyle. Go out and give it a try today.
Happy Thanksgiving! Today and every day. I will be taking a blog break next week. See you back here in a couple of weeks.
