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Aloha and
Good Morning, Another day of Thanksgiving has risen with the morning
sun and its rays warm us as we crawl from our bed space and into the light of
morning. All it takes is a quiet moment of contemplation – before the longer
moments of carefree (alas, not calorie-free) consumption to come – to find
that golden space of gratitude where we keep the miracles, the moments, the
joys and treasures, the times and memories that together form the chemistry
of the past. I take a moment to think about my relationship to the
“pH” of my memories and remind myself that there is no such thing as the
past, only my memory of it and the relationship I maintain to my own memories
and my feelings about them. I take a moment to ponder my relationship to the “pH”
of my imagination, my projection upon the future and remind myself that there
is no such thing as the future, only the relationship, thoughts, feelings and
patterns that I project upon it. I remind myself that my memories influence
my feelings and that through my feelings I create my experience in this
present moment and from my present moment I create the energy and actions
that set in place the patterns that unfold into the manifestation of the future. |
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Then I set
aside such pedantic thoughts and simply dance. I swirl within the golden
space of gratitude I feel upon this beautiful thanksgiving morning. Like a
wizard, with light bursting from the end of my wand, I encircle and
encapsulate all that I remember in a tighter relationship of love and
gratitude: for in this moment, nothing that I have experienced is deserving
of less than complete, peaceful, joyful acceptance. Every beautiful memory
sings in my heart, but moreover, I tear down the monolith that creates my
shadow places for I realize ‘all that is’ shines. My mistakes, my hurt
places, my conflicts and hardships, my flaws, my all – this is the grist from
which I form my lessons learned. This is the pallet from which I paint my
masterpiece of personal growth, consciousness and new awareness; these are
the tools from which I build a tighter relationship with all that is, with
everyone that I love, and with myself. I am reminded once again that there is nothing
unlovable about me. I am reminded that there is nothing unlovable about you.
Who I am, who we all are is a glorious, magnificent expression of life and
our shadow parts are simply the syllabus from which we take our life lessons. Thanksgiving is neither a trite exercise, nor a
meaningless ritual one must hurry through to get to the following feast.
Thanksgiving is the feast. The physical food, the turkey and stuffing, the
mashed potatoes and vegetables, all the goodies we stuff ourselves with are a
metaphor to reinforce the fact that our gratitude is the real feast for it is
the relationship that we form within ourselves for ourselves. Gratitude is
the abundance response; gratitude is the space from which abundance flows.
And who wouldn’t like more abundance in their lives? You know, one of the primary purposes of our life is to
be happy, to feel joy and love and peace. Happiness, joy, love and
peacefulness are created by how we relate to our moment to moment
experiences: not by the experiences themselves. Happiness, joy, love and
peacefulness flow from a deeper well within us than the superficial emotions
prompted by daily events. Anger, for instance, is a superficial emotion
prompted by an event (the event can be very complex and includes our
associations with past, similar events). There is nothing wrong with this, anger has a story to
tell, if we learn how to deeply listen. Still, anger and hurt or playfulness
and excitement are only superficial emotions that float on the pond of our
true inner relationship like rough seas over the still center of the ocean.
Push through the waves and that still place will be there. To say it another
way, peace and joy are the art of pushing though the surface emotions and
expanding our awareness to that deeper place of divinity that is our experience
of God where nothing but unconditional love resides. So on this thanksgiving morning, may we deepen our
relationship to the simple art of gratitude. May we deepen our relationship
to our beloveds and loved ones; deepen our relationship to ourselves and our
shadow places. And may we love more, laugh more, eat more (just today
though), dance more, smile more, hug more, touch more, stretch more, exercise
more, think more, and become more aware. Mostly though, may we simply be. With love and aloha, Holman |
