This Thanksgiving season I’m more thankful than I’ve ever been.
It’s not because things are perfect right now or even close to it. They’re not.
In the grand scheme there’s so much anger in the world these days, too much. There’s also too much sadness and loneliness and despair. Life is hard and filled with suffering, as it always is.
And yet I’m so unbelievably thankful.
When I was younger I’d focus more on what I wanted out of life, what I wanted to do and be and accomplish. I’d focus on what I didn’t have.
But as I sit here writing I see all the love and beauty in my life. It seems endless and overflowing. I recognize how blessed and lucky I am, and I’m thankful for all that I do have.
Things are different now that I’m older. My perspective has evolved. I’ve seen so much in this world, I’ve seen people I love suffer, I’ve suffered myself. These experiences have deepened my feelings and opened my heart.
Kahlil Gibran wrote, “the deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.” I fully believe this, and I do at times find myself filled with joy. But the reality is that I laugh and smile less today than I did when I was younger, before I’d experienced so much sorrow.
Today I feel a much deeper joy though, a joy that warms my heart even if you can’t see it on my face, the joy of a life well lived. This kind of joy comes from fulfilling the complicated responsibilities of an adult, raising and providing for our lovely children, participating in the complex conversation about where humanity is headed, and how we can all best work together even if we don’t see eye to eye.
I believe the same goes for thankfulness as goes for joy. The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more thankfulness you can contain. Because you know how difficult and painful life can be, but also how beautiful, and how the most beautiful moments are always fleeting. Sorrow teaches you to appreciate and be thankful for the good times. When my family is healthy, when I’m healthy, when we’re together, when we are loving and supporting one another, there is so much to be thankful for.
And that brings us to this season, to this moment, when we are all together in person and in spirit.
Thank you. Thanks to each and every one of you. I love you, we love you, and we’re all so grateful for your love.
Each day offers us an opportunity to connect with the infinite love and beauty of the world. There is always hope of course for a better tomorrow, but today is filled with blessings just lying in wait. The magic is everywhere you turn, although it can just as easily get lost in the rush. The sun will rise and set today. We will eat delicious food. There will be moments of connection with our loved ones. We can play, create, dance, love and discover. We can do good work at our jobs and at school. All of this can happen today and every day. And that is reason to give thanks.
Each day is also a new beginning that offers us the chance to put the past behind us and focus more fully on all of the good that is present in our lives, and that is what I feel today. I hope that we all feel this to some degree.
Everything begins with family. We are here because we were brought forth by our ancestors, and I feel blessed to have been given a life to live in this universe.
I am thankful for my family and my friends. I love you all and wish the best for you in this life. I appreciate your hearts and your humor, your talents, the impact you make and have made and will make on this world. But even more I am thankful for your love and generosity and the way you welcome us into your homes and your lives.
I am grateful for and also missing all of our family and friends who are not with us today, either because they are elsewhere, hopefully communing with other special people in their lives, or because they have departed this world. Even when we are not together you are always with us.
I am so thankful for my children. You have given me more in this life than you will ever know (until you have children of your own). You are perfect just the way you are. You are everything to your mother and I. Your feelings are so important and I hope that you are never ashamed of who your heart is telling you to be. I hope that you have the patience to listen to your heart, the courage to follow it, and the compassion to love yourself through the complex and difficult journey of becoming who you were always meant to be.
Thank you Julie for your love, support, honesty and creativity. We have built a wonderful life together. Our home, our children, our art and our adventure inspire me and satisfy me. We have also weathered powerful and surreal storms that have shaken us to the core, but we persevered and remained united, and in some cases were given unexpected gifts from the universe that have brought us much happiness. I love you and appreciate you.
I still don’t know if I believe in God, but I certainly see and feel the divine all around me and within me. Our world is awesome and glorious. It is the home that we all share. It is everything we know and do not know. I am in awe of its existence and am profoundly grateful.
I give thanks for what it is to be a human being. Our wondrous bodies. The feelings that swirl inside of us. Our curiosities and desires. Our resilience and our spirit. Our desire to make the world a better place.
I give thanks for compassion and kindness, for unselfishness and empathy. These qualities make the world truly better.
I give thanks for judgment and restraint, and for the ideas and passion that move humanity forward, either swiftly like a light bulb illuminating the way through darkness, or slowly, incrementally, over long periods of time, whether it’s years or decades or centuries or even more.
I give thanks for creativity, which is a force that inspires me to no end. We always have the opportunity to create and to build, in physical form as well as in ideas, stories and relationships. This act of creation can improve our lives and the lives of others. It is indeed so powerful that it can change the whole world.
I give thanks for play and for laughter. I could never describe how or why, but within them lies a core element of living a meaningful life. Enjoying our limited time is so important.
I give thanks for the laws and systems and institutions that bring order and righteousness to our world, and for the people that devote themselves to protecting our rights and our freedoms.
I give thanks for conversation, and how it opens up the depths of our internal worlds, but also brings us close to the vast reaches of the universe, and takes us backwards and forwards through time.
I give thanks for books and paintings and music and other works from points in time before us. Through these we learn about the natural world and about ourselves. We learn as well that these acts of creation can bring new ideas and beauty to our lives that never before existed.
I give thanks for community and collaboration, for all living beings, for plants and animals, for Mother Earth. We are all in this together and we all need to cooperate to make it work.
The reality is that the universe, although perfect in its own way, is a difficult and unforgiving place. We hurt as human beings, when we are sick or injured or as we age, but we also hurt spiritually and emotionally as loved ones leave us, or things don’t work out as we want them to.
But all things pass, they always do. And hardship often transforms into redemption or beauty when given proper time and space.
We aren’t in this alone, and never do we feel this more acutely as when we feel pain.
We need one another.
I love you all and appreciate you and am forever grateful, in ways that I am in fact just beginning to understand.
Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving!