The Giving of Thanks

Well...I can't believe we're hear already. In less than a week we'll be sitting down to enjoy Thanksgiving. Is anyone else feeling the whiplash of time going super fast this year? I know that this year has felt like the fastest year of my life. I'm not sure why there is a change in time, but I can feel it. Perhaps it's because the world and all of us within it are moving so much faster than we used to. Between social media, television, and radio, we can get updated information every 2 seconds! Wow! As the world speeds on like a rocket, I think we get so caught up in the go go go that we forget to breathe and smell the roses. We get so busy getting our next social media fix that we forget to pause and take stock of what we have in our lives to be thankful for. It's a lot by the way. We all have a lot to be thankful for. We give a lot of things in our daily lives from opinions to advice, gossip, tips, tricks, and the like. But how freely do we give Thanks? How regularly is giving Thanks part of our day? How different would our world look if we all gave Thanks all the time? 

What does giving Thanks even mean? It means to not only be thankful, but to express Thanks and to show Thanks. This can be done in many ways, a simple "Thank you" goes a long way and it surprises me how often I don't hear it used anymore. It surprises me even more when I forget to use it... Don't tell my Grandma...Giving Thanks could mean volunteering, writing a card, saying a blessing, meditating, giving a hug, sharing a kiss, etc... There are many ways in which we can give Thanks, and yet, why is it so easy to focus on the negative and to forget all the positive things that we have to not only be thankful for, but then to give Thanks?

I have a fun exercise I've prepared for you that will hopefully help all of us to focus more on giving Thanks. Here is what you do...you're going to love this are you ready??? :) :) :)
Ok, so for the next 3 days you're going to shut off your electricity, gas, and water connections to your home. You're going to give all of your food away that is in your fridge and pantry to the homeless shelter and you're not allowed to go buy anymore. You have to either hunt or forage for all of your food, water and fire wood these next 3 days. Oh, and you're not allowed to use your car either. 

What do you think? Are you ready to give it a go? Heck NO, I'm sure we're all saying! But seriously just in those simple things being taken away can we find literally hundreds of things to be grateful for, and therefore to give Thanks. This isn't meant to create shame by they way. My aim is to wake us all up a bit as we head into the hysteria of the holiday season. I need this too. Almost 5 years ago I lived in West Africa for 6 weeks and even we had pretty regular access to water, electricity, food, gas, and transportation although it was way less than what we have here. I catch myself forgetting what it was like when the power went out in West Africa, or when we only had bread to eat that day. It was SO EASY to give Thanks during my trip because of how little everyone had. So this is as much for me as it is for all of you, to wake us up and take stock of how much we have to be thankful for and to give Thanks, show Thanks, be Thanks, live Thanks. 

How would you like to give Thanks moving forward? How different would our lives and world be if we each committed to this every single day?

Happy Thanksgiving my loves. 

​Tabitha :) xoxo 

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