A number of years ago (many, many years
ago), when I was in college, I went home for a U.S. Thanksgiving
family celebration. Thanksgiving had always been my favorite
holiday. There was a joy that seemed unique to this holiday.
It was about family and community. Living in New York, it was
inevitable that I would be woken up to the sound of the parade
on TV and pots and pans clanging in the kitchen. By 10 am the
smell of a slow roasting turkey would already begin to fill the
house. Before long the football games would be on TV and the
extended family would begin to arrive. After an early feast of
no less than 4 courses, we would all retire to the living room,
belly's full, dishes cleaned and put away, ready to plan our
weekend. This would inevitably include a trip into the city for
skating at Rockefeller Plaza and the beginning of Christmas shopping.
It was always an exciting time of play and celebration.
This year, however, was different. I came home from college loaded
down with books and assignments. By the time my mother woke to
begin her Thanksgiving ritual (7 am) I had been up for an hour
plowing through a textbook. The noise of the parade and the pans
were an annoying distracter pulling me off my focus. The smell
of the turkey was a nasty reminder that I was starving but I
didn't feel I had time to break away from my studies, after all
I would HAVE to be away from the books for a couple of hours
once the family arrived. You can see where this is going. I don't
remember much of the day other than the turkey didn't taste as
good as it usually did and the family left early which I was
grateful for at the time, I got to go back to my books!
The next morning I enjoyed a quick coffee with my mother. She
sighed deeply. It seemed to her something sacred was lost and
she was right. Gratitude, true gratitude, brings such joy. When
we take the time to recognize and appreciate each other we share
a moment of bliss. Out of this gratitude comes an experience
of rich abundance that is around us always if we will just open
our eyes and choose to see. So what happened on that Thanksgiving
Day in 1984? My eyes were focused elsewhere. I was focused on
the demands of my world and neglected the calling of my heart.
I was making what I was doing more important than the opportunity
that was open to me.
Every day opportunities are open to us. Every day we choose whether
to be grateful and experience the abundance and the joy or focus
on the struggles of the mundane. The cycle of gratitude and abundance
is always within our grasp. It is our resistance to recognize
the good in our lives that keeps us from experiencing the joy
of our life. This U.S. Thanksgiving I will not be with my family,
I will be here in Calgary running a Gratitude and Abundance workshop.
Though I will think of my family and express my deep gratitude
to them for the many lessons they have taught me and all the
love and support that they continue to show me; it will be my
great joy to share this weekend with you as we all step into
the sacred cycle of Gratitude and Abundance and discover the
joy that is our birthright.
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by
Maria Kliavkoff