Each year, Thanksgiving gives us an opportunity to offer and receive the gift of thanks. The Thanksgiving meal in the U.S. provides an opportunity to create a sacred pause to celebrate the abundance of the life we've been given. Planning and cooking the ritual meal is an important aspect as is gathering together the people who compose our family, both biological and extended. Traditional dishes add their own special meaning as we consult recipes that have been handed down through our own families through several generations or "borrowed" from other families to whom we celebrate close connection.
Even if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving formally, you may enjoy this sampler of various kinds of rituals that are designed to generate reflection, appreciation, and acknowledgement of the circle of giving and receiving.
**The Giving and Taking Meditation
Sit quietly for a few moments. Take a few breaths, imagining that you can breathe through and out through all the pores of your body.
Think of a few people who love you and place them in a circle around you. Locate them as close to or as far away from you as you like. Visualize them patiently sitting, just for you, with love and care in their hearts. You can also visualize your favorite pets or see yourself in a natural setting, surrounded by beauty.
If it feels comfortable, place your hand on your heart. Continue consciously breathing. As you inhale, breathe in the love of those who surround you. As you exhale, return the love to them. Get a sense of inhaling warmth and kindness and exhaling gratitude and love.
Breathe in and out as long as you wish, feeling the energy of loving-kindness radiating toward you and from you as you breathe.
Gently open your eyes.
**This meditation is adopted from mindful meditations offered by C. Germer (2009). The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion. New York: The Guilford Press.
For those of you who practice self-hypnosis, Steve Gilligan suggests that focusing on gratitude is one of the best ways to integrate changes made in trance states to real life. One idea is to pause before bringing yourself out of hypnosis and take a few moments to sense any gratitude you might wish to express to yourself...to the people and presences that give you support and love so that you can be all you can be. You can imagine each person or resource, touch your center, and simply say out loud or say "thank you," "thank you," thank you"...
This strategy is derived from Gilligan's new book, Generative Trance, which will be released by Crown House Publishing early in 2013.
Brother David Steindl-Rast, Benedictine monk and well-known speaker on gratefulness as spiritual practice, teaches that there is a direct link between joy and gratefulness. Rather than waiting to feel joy before we give thanks, Brother David points out that we need to cultivate daily gratitude since the more grateful we feel, the more likely it is that we will find joy in our lives. Enrich your celebration of Thanksgiving this year by giving thanks and receiving and feeling joy from that simple practice.
For more information, visit www.gratefulness.org
Below, Sister Mary Jose Hobday shares Native American traditions of thanksgiving. She notes that the traditions of the Seneca Iroquois tribe, which are extensive, lasting four days.
The Thanksgiving ritual has 16 special chants of thanks. They are for people, the earth, plants, water, trees, animals, birds, the "sisters," (special powers that help people take care of themselves and look after each other), the wind, thunderers (powers that bring rain), the sun, the moon, the stars, the Four Beings (powers that bring enlightenment and strength), Handsome Lake (a member of the tribe who was particularly effective in spreading Christian values), and, finally, the Creator.
In this ritual, the chanting of the story of thanksgiving night begin like this: "Now the people have gathered to give thanks. In the early times, the Sky Dwellers (beings in Native American origin stories who came to earth and helped populate it) told us we must move about the earth with love. They said the first thing we must do when we meet one another is be thankful for each other. Above all, we must relate to the earth as our mother, who supports all, even our very feet."
Although we may not practice for four days, we can easily focus on "moving about the earth with love." May you find a new way to express love to all you meet, and be richly rewarded with the joy of giving and receiving.
My best Thanksgiving wishes,
Maggie
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