because there are 364 more days in the year that need your gratitude, too!
Now, there’s a happy turkey. Giving thanks for eating his Thanksgiving pie after not being eaten himself during the main course. Not everyone is this happy on any given day of the year, let alone Thanksgiving.
“Yeah, sure. Let’s get through this holiday so that we can get back to ‘normal’ things.” And, just what is your definition of normal? Being ungrateful for the many blessings that we all have, but don’t always make the best of them?
If you were this turkey, couldn’t you breathe into a mirror and see fog on the glass showing that you are alive? How about grabbing your wrist and feeling a pulse?
If you were the turkey of life, you would stand a pretty good chance of being eaten on this only day set aside for gratitude during the year. And, if there is not a special time set aside for giving thanks, such as this, many just don’t or won’t.
Fact — Thanksgiving is the beginning of the ‘violent time’ of the year. It ends on Christmas! It seems like everyone is saying “Happy Thanksgiving” or “Happy Holidays” to anyone who will listen.
The violence is done to others and selves. Yes, selves! Suicides are up during this time of year. People are being smothered by the media and others with the “giving time of the year.”
Yet, so very many people are no longer in a position to be able to give to anyone, let alone loved ones if they still exist for them. Divorce, death, incarceration, and separation play a large part in this.
So many believe that, since they are supposed to be happy and aren’t, they are all alone. This brings on aggression and/or self-injury.
Not too long ago in the soup kitchen, I was reminded of why I am grateful to be the me that I am today, not the me that was when I was in the madness. It seemed like all were having problems on that day.
Zombie meth addicts griping about the alcoholics. Alcoholics bitching about the addicts. Bi-polar people moaning about alcoholics and addicts. Alcoholics and addicts saying their only problem was that they were Bi-polar.
But also, people that were truly grateful for a lunch which will probably be the only meal that they have today, let alone for several days. Another was grateful that his furnace was fixed with a cheap DIY fix by a friend and for the first time in 5 years he had heat.
Then there was the “zombie” spraying himself with Lysol so that we all would know that he was now clean and not carrying Covid. And the beat and list goes on!
I knew a long time ago that there but for the grace of God go I. Why? Because my name is Jim and I am an alcoholic. I had no religious or spiritual background so I didn’t know that God was my protector.
What a breath of fresh air it was to learn that my former God was not really that judgmental, punishing, tyrant that I had been taught. He was a loving, forgiving energy that wanted nothing but the best for me and started showing me how through the others in the program.
After learning a whole new definition of God, I couldn’t say, feel, and express enough how grateful I was that I was at last near Him. What was strange to me was that He had always been there. I was the one that was missing.
I was shown that it is very simple but not always easy. Simple, because very little effort is needed by me. Hard because of the baggage that I was still carrying and, through the program, losing.
Today, right now, I absolutely know how blessed I am. I am alive and breathing. I have a family that loves me and shows this regularly. I have friends, not just acquaintances, that even put up with my corny jokes.
I have a roof over my head sheltering me from the storms of life. I have warm memories of my late wife that would have never been without my joining AA and learning about my inborn spirituality.
I have an extended family through AA, my church, the soup kitchen, my neighbors, and others that I just happen to meet. Where once I was alone in a crowd, I am now surrounded by love.
I deeply believe in the Law of Attraction and now that I have reversed my thinking about almost everything, I am reaping the rewards. I now try to show my appreciation for my blessing regularly and so am surrounded by even more.
Want to know the real beauty of it? It is that you can have it, too. Create the thought of happiness for yourself and you will soon believe that you could be. As soon as you believe it, you WILL achieve it.
Simple? Yes! Easy? No! So, roll up your sleeves and go to work and you will soon be wallowing in gratitude. That’s a fact, Jack! (as we used to say) A life of 365 days of gratitude is yours for the taking.
So, live Thanksgiving 24/7/365 and you will truly become too blessed to be stressed!
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