Mindful Living: Thanksgiving and Giving Thanks

“I give thanks for all the good in my life I have been blessed with: good health, a loving family, a comfortable home, and good food for my family...”

When I first read this affirmation, I flipped the page over in irritation. How could I affirm these things I didn’t have?

The problem with an encompassing statement like “good health” is that it is punctuated with an allergic rattle coming from deep in my lungs. I am cranky and overmedicated. But even as I walk to the kitchen to down yet another glass of water, my leg muscles flex with a strength that even seasonal allergies can’t weaken. My heart beats in a steadfast rhythm. My mind is clear and vibrating with desires of every sort. I AM blessed with a strong and healthy body.

“A loving family?” Does that mean husband and kids? Like Ozzie and Harriet and a picket fence? No wonder I feel left out. You see, my “family” is a darling sister, a large group of friends, and two pampered cats. Maybe not a TV kind of family, but a family nonetheless. I am blessed with a family that really does love me unconditionally.

“A comfortable home?” I looked around and saw my apartment - not a home. I thought of the unpaid bills, and the ladybugs moving en masse through the kitchen, and how the carpet still smelled of the last tenants. Then again there is the quiet of my private space. A big warm kitchen and a view of the meadow. A place where my soul can rest. I am blessed with a retreat that fills all my needs.

“Good food for my family?” What family? I have only myself to feed, and the kitties. Does this count? My kitchen is full of food for the body and the soul. Some to arrange into platters of riotous color and texture and taste. Some to calm my occasionally aching heart. Some to grace with friends. I am blessed because the food of my kitchen does more than keep my body alive, it keeps my spirit alive.

Yes. I have these things and you do too. Maybe not the perfect way, but some way, your way. Take a minute and separate yourself from what you are supposed to have, and pay attention to what you do have, right now, this minute, even as you sit there reading these words. Your body is the gift that walks through across wet grass or reaches for an empire apple or hears the soft gnarl of a friendly dog. Your friend is there to be given a big hug with nothing held back. Your window opens to the grace of a Vermont day. Your dessert is for pure pleasure, soul food to be devoured to the very last morsel.

You ARE blessed, and that is the spirit of thanksgiving.

*Affirmation from Science of Mind magazine, November 1998

Copyright June, 1999

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