Thursday, November 26, 2015

Mindful, Thankful

It's Thanksgiving Day 2015. But as I look at the news, I'm not finding much to be thankful for.

And that's the point I want to share this year: looking outside yourself, always seeking elsewhere, for reasons to be thankful is like looking outside yourself for reasons to be happy.

Your thankfulness, like your happiness, is inside you where it belongs.

When you practice mindfulness, you realize that you run into trouble if your happiness is tied to people or things or situations, because you don't control those things. Things and people change. And if they're the containers where you store your happiness, then they take that with them when they leave.

Same thing with thankfulness. If the reasons you are thankful are only outside yourself, then your appreciation is as tenuous as your connection to them.

Maybe I ought to explain: people, blessings, the world around you - these are all reasons to be thankful. They're usually things folks point to when they thing "here's why I'm happy."

Ever hear someone say some variation of "he/she/they/this makes me happy?" We understand what they mean. But what happens if things go south, as life does? Suddenly the person or thing is gone, and "dang it if they didn't take my happiness with them!"

People and things can make you feel happy, just as they can make you feel thankful. But feelings are transitory - they come in and go out like a tide. You know how a person can change and suddenly you aren't feeling happy anymore? Yeah, you know that.

But you can BE happy even when you don't FEEL happy. Yup, a happy heart isn't tied to things that come and go, like a person or a job or chocolate. No, the happy heart is happy at the very level of its existence, even as the eyes fill with tears and your heart feels like it's breaking.

A thankful heart is thankful even when everything sucks. It is thankful even if you don't feel particularly thankful. Thanksgiving Day proves it.

People who pin Thanksgiving Day to things (like family, plentiful food, football, whatever) dread Thanksgiving if they don't have those things in their lives. If it's all about family dinner, and you don't have a family, or dinner, or A HOME, then Thanksgiving Day is a slog.

But a thankful heart is thankful anyway.  I recall a news report about someone who was battling a terminal illness filled with pain. What did the patient feel thankful for? "The pain is almost over."

A thankful heart can't be taken from you, even by the most grim of circumstances.

A bible verse springs to mind: 2 Timothy 3:2. It speaks in disapproving tones of people who are "unthankful." That's totally different from people who ACT unthankful. We've all probably done that at times. But to actually BE an unthankful person is something that just isn't acceptable.

It can be tough to cultivate a Thankful heart, just as it can to cultivate a Happy heart, or a Mindful heart. But as you take steps towards it you will benefit. A thankful heart will serve you well in your endeavours.

Thank you.