Thanksgiving: The True Meaning of Thanks

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

John F. Kennedy

This special holiday is an opportunity to embrace all of life’s blessings and share our love and gratitude with all those we care about and by taking a moment recognizing and appreciating what we do have.

When we think of Thanksgiving, many thoughts come to mind. So it is that on Thanksgiving Day each year, we as part of our community give thanks for all our blessings and humanities toward us throughout the year. It is that attitude of gratitude which is the basis of the commencement of the holiday season. When we continually project an attitude of gratitude, both inward and outward, our life can transform in a most affirmative and positive way.

Thanksgiving is a holiday in which we, as individuals, focus on our past, our present circumstances, and future endeavors and give thanks. It a day to slow down for a few hours, join hands with our family and friends, and truly reflect on how blessed many of us are. There is so much in this beautiful world to be thankful for, and the least we can do is take a moment to realize that, on a day that is dedicated for giving thanks.

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero

Every language in the world has a way of saying “thank you.”  This is because gratitude is an inherent quality that resides within each human being, and is triggered and expressed spontaneously in a variety of different contexts. Gratitude crosses all boundaries—creed, age, vocation, gender, and community—and is emphasized by all the great religious traditions.

Gratitude is much more than just saying thanks. It is a state of being that appreciates all that is good and welcomed in our life. It is expressing appreciation for each new day, for life, for each other. It is cherishing the gifts we have been given; being thankful for nature and the Earth, for humankind and for those who are closest to us – our parents, partners and children. When people in a community choose to practice, integrate, and embody gratitude, the cumulative force that is generated can help create the kind of community we all hope for and desire, for ourselves and for future generations.

The questions we ask and the truth revealed to us come from the same place: our powerful intuition, our connectedness to our own spirits, and the learned and perceptive messages spoken in the gentle language of our own hearts. Because gratitude encourages us not only to appreciate our gifts but to pay them forward, the sociologist Georg Simmel called it “the moral memory of mankind.” Research done by the University of California, Berkeley, has revealed that gratitude leads to a stronger immune system, healthier blood pressure, greater joy, optimism, and sense of overall well-being, acting with more generosity and compassion, and feeling less lonely and isolated.* There is ample proof that certain practices improve one’s well-being and mood. When we feel good, we are more likely to be enthusiastic, generous and supportive of others.

May this Thanksgiving holiday give us all many reasons to be thankful. So in closing with this simple wish; “from our Family to yours, have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday!”

#IamRockford #Remix #ReBuild #TransformRockford

References

• The Trouble with Thanksgiving Gratitude
• How Gratitude Beats Materialism