Coexistence… what the farmer does with the turkey – until Thanksgiving.

Mike Connolly

On this side of the Atlantic, where I happen to be (specifically, Australia), this Thursday and Friday are like most other Thursdays and Fridays – working days.

But over in America and Canada, these two days are holidays, with Thursday being Thanksgiving and Friday being the day after Thanksgiving, a day which is known in the retail industry as ‘Black Friday’.

And, no, it’s a very good kind of black because store accounts will hopefully go from ‘red’ to ‘black’ with all the shopping that people are expected to do on and after the Friday following Thanksgiving!  Or so the urban myths say.  It’s officially the start of Christmas shopping.

Clearly, there’s a lot happening during these days and during the lead up to them and following them as Americans and Canadians slide (or struggle uphill) from Thanksgiving to Christmas and the rest of us wind up (or down) for Christmas.

I love the idea of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, can be marred for some at least, by national history, when battles between the early settlers and the indigenous people were waged, or personal history, where conflicts persist in the hearts of everyday folk with unhappy childhoods, estranged families or financial struggles.  For these people, Thanksgiving can be an occasion when their inner happiness feels most threatened.

Yet, for all of us, regardless of our current situation or history, thanksgiving -giving thanks and feeling gratitude – is exactly what can help restore our inner happiness.

Now, for me personally, gratitude is quite simply the recognition of goodness.  Gratitude, for me, does not even remotely hint of indebtedness or humility or feeling small in the presence of greatness.

For me, gratitude is recognizing the greatness and goodness in everything, including myself.  And that is not only a marvelous, enriching feeling, it’s a powerful one.  You see, you cannot be grateful without recognizing goodness and greatness.

If, on the other hand, gratitude simply means feeling good because of what someone or something has done for us, then I think we remain trapped in the craving and attaching habits of the ego-mind, a mind preoccupied with its unnatural and untenable survival.  Such a mind demands that other people and other things behave in certain ways in order for us to be happy.

On the other hand, recognizing the greatness and goodness in all things and enjoying freely and fully this recognition of greatness and goodness – that’s when I feel most grateful.  That’s when my sense of gratitude is not limited to what has been done for or to me, personally, but simply and inclusively, for what is.

To all my American and Canadian readers, may Thanksgiving be truly a day of gratitude for you.  And to all of us everywhere, may we enjoy the inner happiness of recognizing the greatness and goodness of all of life!

Love always

Lucy

Awakening to Happiness, Prosperity and Freedom!

‘INSPIRED PARENTING’

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Image of Carpenter Ants from Purdue University

One of the best antidotes I know to remedy negativity, such as feelings of hopelessness, despair or failure is summoning the experience of gratitude.

Recognizing the blessings that fill my life (and really, they are countless), very quickly turns my negative mood around.  Not only does it turn it around, but it is also such a leveler.  Compared to all the things that seem to be ‘wrong’ or ‘lacking’ or ‘not working’, there are so many, many more that are ‘right’ or in adequate or plentiful supply or are working perfectly well.

During a conversation with a friend some weeks ago, I had occasion to remind myself of the importance of keeping a balanced perspective (which is something that having gratitude can do).  I realized that the tenuous and fragile nature of life is such that it is literally a moment’s difference between ‘then’ and ‘now’.

For instance, you could be driving down the motorway and your entire life, as you’ve known it thus far, could change the moment you have an accident.  You could be wheelchair bound for the rest of your life.  That’s all it takes.  A moment!  And no matter how bad you may have been feeling before the accident, you would probably prefer to be there than where you may now find yourself!

Or you could be feeling angry about someone or something when the phone rings and you are informed of the death of someone very close to you.  A moment is all that separates ‘then’ and ‘now’.  And if you have been lamenting some of the things in your life and thereby giving it the best of your attention, you will have wasted the opportunity to have been joyous through gratitude.  Worse still, you will be carrying this negativity into the new situation you face, leaving you in an even deeper state of negativity from which to recover.

I suppose a reasonable and useful question to ask is: Why do we keep falling into negative states?

There are two main reasons.  The first is that for most of us, the mind has been conditioned into negativity.  How?  Well, the mind, in the first instance, is predisposed to perceiving problems.  A problem is simply a perceived state of difference between ‘what is’ and ‘what is desired’.

Now, in theory, a problem state does not have to have negative associations.  However, most of us have experienced problem states in the context of struggle, pain, effort, boredom and so on.  Thus, even though it is possible to experience a problem state as just a difference in ‘what is‘ and ‘what is desired‘, we have been conditioned to experience it as a painful, difficult, insurmountable difference.

Well, that is the first reason.  The second reason is that the more you stay in negativity, the more negativity stays with you.  If you want to consider that in terms of the Law of Attraction, you’ll find the principle holds true.  Which is why summoning gratitude as a frequent (not just daily) practice is a brilliant antidote for negativity.  In time, it can replace your default negative programming!

So, don’t despair.  Feel grateful.  In fact, play a game with yourself.  Look for the most obscure or unlikely and forgotten things that you might be grateful for…like that spider that appeared on your screen door and served to remind you to give all your doors and windows a dusting.  Or the grain of sugar that you see an ant feasting on and its reminder of the taste of sweetness that you enjoy in so many different foods that you eat.  Or that time when you were in desperate need of a toilet and couldn’t find one handy thus prompting you to remember a childhood friend caught in an embarrassing situation and your ability to help her…


Lucy Lopez – Hire Me!

Awakening to our Greatness!

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