A True Thanksgiving Feast?
What does thanksgiving look like at your house?
Where do we actually begin?
Do we sit around the table and recite what we are thankful for? Do we reminisce about our favorite
thanksgiving? Do we overdo it on tryptophan and trimmings? Travel to visit family
and friends, increase our stress and try to cope with all the distractions?
Following our Presidential advice, …
... When
we join with friends and neighbors to alleviate suffering and
make our communities whole, we honor the spirit of President
Abraham Lincoln, who called on his fellow citizens to "fervently
implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the
wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be
consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of
peace, harmony, tranquility, and union."
Work - Optimism
What description is suitable, acceptable, and sufficient actually
addresses the true state of affairs?
Would terms like good, wonderful, excellent or work? Would these accurately describe anything, or
could they describe everything and nothing at the same time? At any work place, there are always good and
bad issues! Trite phrases and shallow expletives
fail to actually share how things truly remain.
Instead, numbers, data combined with anecdotal evidence often paint an
accurate picture. But like a picture
that never fully does the truth justice, our descriptions can never fully
capture the conditions! Often how we perceive
things, optimistically or pessimistically fosters growth or progress or slows down any advancements. Hence, attitudes become personal barometers
or indicators of success.
Family or Friends - Forgiveness
Much has been written describing the various commonalities
and differences between family and friends.
Of course, we can’t pick our family but we can pick our friends. Together,
these represent the people around us and in our paths that we either build up
or tear down. Regardless of prior experiences, at this season, maybe the remembering
and focusing on the positive becomes a priority. Arguments are easy to begin but can acceptance and kindness overcome the
past? Maybe that is the place for true forgiveness? Maybe that is what we should practice? Like a doctors business being labeled a practice,
forgiveness is also a practice. It is
not simple. It is not easy and it is not
a single event but a process. We struggle, ponder and try self-righteous indignation, claiming pure innocence. Yet as we forgive
others, we also learn to forgive ourselves, heal and recover from past
pains. If we can’t forgive ourselves, we
won’t be able to forgive others.
Life or Health - Service
Obviously, those spending time reading this are up and going
but to piggyback from the last topic, maybe forgiveness is the best gift we can
offer to those less fortunate and service is the action that stems from the
attitude? Only as a speculation but, are
our efforts to remain healthy possibly physical as well as mental? Maybe we should reconcile relationships with
others as well as ourselves? Maybe
forgiveness becomes a component of mental health, leading to better physical
health? Reduced blood pressure may be an
indicator, especially if resulting from natural adjustments, like attitude
adjustments, forgiveness and serving others.
But physical health often aligns with psychological well-being. Serving others may remind us of our own mortality,
remind of our own blessings and connect us with them in synergistic and mutual beneficial
ways.
More stuff than??? - Contentment
Finally, we look at our things. We consider what we have. Our list of wants and needs is often insatiable as we learn more about the offerings available. A little story about motivating primitive
workers by catalogs illustrates this.
A version went like this. A factory
opened up in an area where folks did not yet have a lot of other indicators of commercialism. After the first week, when the locals received
their check on Friday, they failed to come to work on Monday. Allegedly, they had made so much during the
prior week, they could sit idle and have their needs met for some time. It wasn't till catalogs and commercialism taught
them what was available did they return to work, with a renewed vigor. This simple illustration is not meant to be a
slam against capitalism, free market economies or big business but an indicator
of human nature. We won’t know we want
something if we don’t know it exists!
Where does this stop? Can we be
happy or content with what we have? Does
our aspiration consume all our energy?
Do we own our stuff, or does our stuff own us?
Conclusion
This thanksgiving, maybe we could consider four things? Optimism, forgiveness, service, and contentment.
Optimism that things the way things are is better than the way it could be!
Forgiveness for others, and ourselves as well!
Service to others and alongside others.
Contentment with all that we have here in these United States.
Authors Note: This is actually my 100th post published. Ironic it would be on such a special occasion.
