Thank You! We are all links in this chain.

It's Thanksgiving, a day designed for collective gratitude.  There are those who are regularly tuned into gratitude in their lives while others are not.  Even if you are someone who is mindful and present enough to get this, what makes Thanksgiving different from usual moments of giving thanks, is a national intention.  It’s a day when everything shuts down for the purpose of mindful, ritual gratitude. 

Tonight, I took my regular Wednesday night beginner class and feel like Thanksgiving started tonight.  My teacher, who truly inspires me, asked us to write down five things for which we are thankful and five things we intend to be thankful for throughout the next year.  For the purpose of this entry, I will list them here:

Now:

• Family
• Friends
• Life’s abundance
• Being on the mat
• Getting the cosmic joke

Future:

• Surviving and thriving in the wake of life’s challenges
• The continued health and well-being of my family & friends
• Growing on and off the mat
• The new things that come into my life
• Being.  Breathing.

When I looked at my list before tucking it under my mat, my first thought was, of course friends and family, and then realized I had written them down almost automatically.  Later, when I returned home, I looked at the list again.  This time, I really thought about my family, each member for who he or she is and was overwhelmed with feelings of awe and love.  They are amazing models of love, compassion and commitment who have been part of shaping my world, some since my birth and others since their births.  Then, images of various friends began to pop into my head & heart, bringing with them their own stories of adventure and inspiration.  I went down the list and visualized each item in the context of this great gratitude and the words began to breathe.  

However you spend this day or feel about its mythology, there is something powerful in the number of people, links in this great chain of gratitude, who will be participating.

Namaste.