Thanksgiving and Gratitude

Here in the U.S., the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend is drawing to a close. It is a wonderful holiday, meant to be spent with family and friends as we celebrate that which we most value and appreciate in our lives and the past year. Peter is in Arizona working on a new Western, “Hot Bath and a Stiff Drink,” so I spent the holiday with my dear friend Sally and her family.

It is different but so much the same: the familiar smells of roast turkey in its final hour of preparation, the happy greetings as each invited guest arrives, the chatter and flow of conversation, the anticipation of the feast and the last minute flurry of activity as the chef pulls all the specially chosen elements of the meal together to present to the family. There is that moment to pause for grace before everyone dives into their plates and then the stories continue until it is finally time for all the guests to return to their homes. Somehow, the plates get cleared and the dishes done without a break in the flow.

I had no plans for shopping this weekend, the heaviest shopping days of the year. Being out of the office for several days affords me the opportunity to tweak my manuscript in those places that still don’t feel quite right, tune into Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas which is a non-stop indulgence into all the stories of love and hope that can fit into a 24/7 broadcast schedule, and catch up with all the household projects that await my attention while I have the time to work on them. It’s a time to enjoy the animals and the beauty of the ranch around me. And, in a complete departure from my normal routine, I studiously avoid the news and emails.

There is something fortuitous in the break between the thanks given at the start of the weekend and the messages of gratitude I receive when I finally open the inbox. Expressions of thanksgiving and gratitude are part of my daily morning routine and this extended space between the two over several days makes me pause to think a bit. After all, they are different. We give thanksgiving for that which we have received. We give thanks for the aspects of our lives that we enjoy, that feel good to us. We express gratitude for that which we are about to receive – in the future. Gratitude is an expression of what we would like to see in our lives, what we would like to create and attract into our world. The exact wording may sound repetitive, the differences subtle.

I am thankful for being with friends, thankful for all the blessings we have received and the connections to those we love, past and present, thankful for a marvelous year, thankful for work that I love and enjoy, thankful for the ability to travel to Seattle and spend time with Amy, Tom and Charlie, thankful for the ranch and community where I live, thankful for the lifestyle we have crafted with its quirky Western country flavor.

I am grateful for all the people I will be able to spend time with in the future, dreaming, plotting and planning the coming year. I am grateful for the financial resources to travel to Seattle among other places, to develop venues to share what I have learned and continue to learn about creativity, more specifically about quantum creativity. I am grateful to work on a show that feeds those involved with it in a positive way. I am grateful for the opportunity to bring ever more love and beauty into the world around me. I am grateful for the awareness that even if we may feel powerless over everything in our outer environment we do have the power to turn our minds to infinite fields of possibility for a solution. And when we do, amazing things happen.

In offering thanksgiving and gratitude for the holidays and every day, may you become aware of the blessings of love and well-being surrounding you right now. May you enjoy the feast.

To Your Success,

Susan