Do not wait for a “Turkey” to unveil the virtue of “Gratitude”

Turkeys have been a symbol of thanksgiving and abundance.

We tend to lose sight of the fact that we are mere mortals and this life is a gift to us. Hence we should feel grateful that we are “alive”. We get so entangled in our individual challenging situations that we create a domino effect of miseries. We become despondent and gloomy while refusing to take responsibility to accept and look for solutions. This leads us into a blame game scenario fueled by a continuous complaining attitude. As a consequence, we suddenly become powerless to control our misery and create fear in our minds in addition to the negative thoughts being produced by our current situation.

Lo behold… the year has flown by in strife and self-pity.

Finally, its Thanksgiving time! A turkey reminds us to be grateful for everything in life. So is it really the turkey or the ambience of Gratitude that comes part and parcel with Thanksgiving that puts us in an appreciative mode of the privileges we have been enjoying, which we took for granted? The Thanksgiving turkey enables a supersonic jet to transport all our negative emotions into another galaxy. Surprisingly, when we write a list of things that we are grateful for, the list becomes endless.  It comes as a revelation that life has been kind to us all along.

The idea here is not to compare ourselves to lesser privileged people and feel thankful that we are better off than them! It’s a more profound feeling of becoming appreciative of everything we have in our lives that we have taken for granted. A roof over our head, food on the table, basic necessities of life, and simple acts of being able to breathe, talk, think, laugh or even smile. A well-wisher’s prayers, elders’ blessings, or a Santa in disguise steps in to bring abundance into our lives. We need to recognize and acknowledge the presence of grace in our lives and feel grateful

This volcano of gratitude shakes our entire system of self-created anguish and suffering. This sincere act of feeling “thankful” dissolves all our expectations and grievances and we get overwhelmed with a deep sense of peace and happiness. The self-pity we had been indulging in gets transformed into self-reliance and produces courage within our system. Our perspective is transformed as now wisdom dawns upon us.

Being able to take a simple breath unconsciously without having to monitor it is in itself a miracle. Now suddenly, our small world is a much bigger cosmos – one that is working with the will of the Universe. We no longer take anything for granted. We accept painful times as a possibility to get stronger and become a trailblazer for paving new roads in our journey.

Once we unveil the virtue of “Gratitude” we begin to enjoy this journey. This itinerary gently nudges us to feel appreciative of everything and everybody around us. We no longer worry about the destination as we embark on a sojourn of happiness and positivity in spite of hardships and adversities in our daily lives.

We begin to enjoy the magic of sunshine, a moonlit night, starry skies, shade of the majestic trees, the gentle breeze with a feeling of contentment that we are blessed!

Let’s Be Thankful for everything throughout the year and not wait for a “turkey” to remind us to be “Grateful”.