I have a friend who went to Burma one fall to meditate at retreat centers for I think

was there for a couple of months and by the end of it very calm and open-hearted and he thought

you know perhaps this is really what spiritual awakening is felt really really good then he went home

for Thanksgiving I don't know if I need to tell you the rest of the story it happens a lot people

go to retreats or have very deep experiences and then go home and spend time with their families

of origin and it triggers things and so it seems appropriate to mention here on the holidays that

old patterns are easily come to life and if we can forget not only forgive ourselves in each other

but actually sensible what is this this holiday about this one is probably my favorite because

it's most clear and it's intention to remind us to really cherish this life to be grateful

and I know I find for myself and I've heard other people say this that in the days leading up to

Thanksgiving I can't get away with my normal kind of complaints to go through my mind as quickly

I kind of catch myself more quickly that mood of being oppressed by too much to do or feeling

beleaguered and it just gets lifted more quickly because there's a little more remembrance which is

really the gift of this season if we take it my sense is that there's probably not one of us that

doesn't really value the experience of feeling grateful and the experience of generosity

it's kind of universal that we that we really value it and when it's for real in us when it

and when I mean for real it's visceral when it's alive in a set sense of gratitude

there's a sense of homecoming it feels like we're more who we really are in those moments

when we're appreciative it's very sweet it has a kind of innocence to it

and I bring that up because you know if you think of the happiest people you know

there are people that are they're very grateful and they're also very generous really happy people

so it correlates with science if you've been reading the papers are great on the day before

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