Mairlyn's Photos - Oct 11 2026 - Is there Thankful Thinking?
Once a year - that's it. That's right. It is once a year that we all pause for thanks. How curious. Is thanks a thought or an emotion? Do we "pause" because it is both - the thought of recognizing, the emotion of gratitude, and then the action is to say thanks. Expressing thanks affects our mental reward system.
Here's an article that gives some advice on how to go from a complaining life to one which cultivates, and is grounded in, a spirit of Thanksgiving. First, become aware of how much we complain and how complaining creates suffering for ourselves and those around us. We become aware of this by doing an exercise called "not complaining" - for an entire day. Included is not complaining about not being able to complain!
To refrain from complaining is one thing, and to be grateful takes a lot more. Somehow Thanksgiving focuses on this "meal" - the turkey, its stuffing, the pumpkin pie. I guess the original colonists were thankful that they had enough to eat in this new continent, and so the tradition.
The advice above is in this article HERE - it has seven stages of gratitude. That's quite a few to my mind. And quite the challenge to accomplish. Maybe that's why we remain with Thanksgiving as a big food event. So much simpler and not much work, really.
Yesterday I drove by this year's version of the display below - it is on Victoria Avenue in Vineland. I was on my way to pick up my Thanksgiving turkey.
What an experience! It was the annual festival of arts, and there were hundreds, maybe even a thousand people all up and down Victoria Ave. There can be up to 7,000 people at the festival on a single day of the Thanksgiving weekend. Cars were parked in fields as far as one could see.
They were all smiling and having fun - quite unusual and definitely pleasant to see so many happy people.
No comments:
Post a Comment