Thankful, Grateful, Beautiful
Thanksgiving,
For many of us, this is a time to have friends and family over and enjoy all the festivities this time of year brings! For others, thanksgiving can be a lonely time spent in isolation away from our friends and family. This year has been especially difficult for the entire world regardless of your circumstance. The pandemic of 2020 has wreaked havoc across many lands and brought despair and heartache into many lives. Thanksgiving is more than one day of reflection and good food. Thanksgiving is a way of living your life. Being grateful and recognizing the beautiful people, places, and things in your life is a continual process. It is in these moments of gratitude that we find out what is really important to us and what we can actually do without.
How can people actually be thankful during a pandemic? It is so easy to get caught up in the "now" of it all but your life, even if it ends today, has had a few moments in it where the sun did shine and the rain did stop. Did you take notice of the good times (the sun) or did you just dwell on the bad times (the rain)? Even in the midst of a bad time please find something to be thankful for...to be grateful for. If you are allowed to live long enough, you will find that circumstances could have been considerably worse. If everything is horrible then be grateful that in the beauty of life you will make it through your ordeal sooner or later and be stronger for it. Life is not fair but you can make it even in the darkest of times. Pull yourself together. Many people are living in extreme times. Our world is full of doom and despair. Focus on what goodness you can give to this Earth. The person you uplift may in turn uplift someone else. It will come full circle and you will get encouraged too. Cry if you must but always smile when you can. You are beautiful. You can be thankful and grateful for the blessings that you see and all the ones that you don't see or have forgotten. Thanksgiving is a state of mind. Learn to be thankful beyond Thanksgiving.
