Gratitude - noun - the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness; the state of being grateful; from Latin grātus, pleasing.
Growing up in Sweden I wasn’t accustomed to the celebration of Thanksgiving. However, living here in the US, the idea of giving thanks has been powerful and I was curious as of its origin…
Growing up in Sweden I wasn’t accustomed to the celebration of Thanksgiving. However, living here in the US, the idea of giving thanks has been powerful and I was curious as of its origin…
Apparently the first celebration of “Thanksgiving” was a harvest celebration shared by the Plymouth colonist from England and the Wampanoag Indians in 1621. The year before, half of the colonists had starved to death. The local Native American tribe came to their rescue and taught them how to grow corn, beans and squash; catch fish, and collect seafood. As a result, they thrived and invited the Wampanoag for a 3-day festivity, which included goose, lobster, cod and deer… but no turkey :-)
Our Thanksgiving celebration came from this beautiful act of generosity by the Wampanoag tribe, and the gratitude, that so naturally followed, by the Plymouth colonists.
How did we manage to forget this natural way of life, where gratitude and generosity play of each other in an endless dance of joy and thankfulness?
Gratitude – like everything else – lives in the present moment.
Gratitude is saying Yes to life, fully and completely, in this endless moment of Now.
There is no need for resistance, judgment or feeling that something is “wrong”, that anything at all needs to be changed or fixed.
Whatever life brings, say Thank You and be in acceptance of what IS, in this moment…
… then your heart opens and gratitude flows from you into the world,
which then inspires generosity – in you, as well as others… and your world will change.
Being in complete acceptance does not however mean that you cannot have a desire to create something else in your life - and take whatever action needed to make that happen. But this can be done without resisting what IS, it can be done with an open grateful heart, while desiring a new creation into being.
Today, November 24th 2016, is a special day for me.
Today I celebrate the completion of a beautiful dream, with so much gratitude.
It’s 12 years since I set out on my 1-year solo around the world backpacking journey.
I had it all mapped out – or so I thought… but Life had other plans, far beyond my wildest imagination… and I chose to say Yes, I learned to say Thank You no matter what… and my world changed – I changed.
As I have mentioned previously, in a Facebook post I believe, I feel I have lived several lives, in this life time… at least three full and complete lives. Today marks the completion of the third life, the third dream.
Tonight, around midnight, I set out on a new journey of creation… a deliberate conscious creation of my forth life, in this lifetime…. a new dream, independently created into this world, as opposed to in response to this world.
More on this… hopefully within the next 24 hours or so… I’d love for you to join me on this journey. Stay tuned.
Happy Thanksgiving… open that heart of yours and shine your love into this world!
Our Thanksgiving celebration came from this beautiful act of generosity by the Wampanoag tribe, and the gratitude, that so naturally followed, by the Plymouth colonists.
How did we manage to forget this natural way of life, where gratitude and generosity play of each other in an endless dance of joy and thankfulness?
Gratitude – like everything else – lives in the present moment.
Gratitude is saying Yes to life, fully and completely, in this endless moment of Now.
There is no need for resistance, judgment or feeling that something is “wrong”, that anything at all needs to be changed or fixed.
Whatever life brings, say Thank You and be in acceptance of what IS, in this moment…
… then your heart opens and gratitude flows from you into the world,
which then inspires generosity – in you, as well as others… and your world will change.
Being in complete acceptance does not however mean that you cannot have a desire to create something else in your life - and take whatever action needed to make that happen. But this can be done without resisting what IS, it can be done with an open grateful heart, while desiring a new creation into being.
Today, November 24th 2016, is a special day for me.
Today I celebrate the completion of a beautiful dream, with so much gratitude.
It’s 12 years since I set out on my 1-year solo around the world backpacking journey.
I had it all mapped out – or so I thought… but Life had other plans, far beyond my wildest imagination… and I chose to say Yes, I learned to say Thank You no matter what… and my world changed – I changed.
As I have mentioned previously, in a Facebook post I believe, I feel I have lived several lives, in this life time… at least three full and complete lives. Today marks the completion of the third life, the third dream.
Tonight, around midnight, I set out on a new journey of creation… a deliberate conscious creation of my forth life, in this lifetime…. a new dream, independently created into this world, as opposed to in response to this world.
More on this… hopefully within the next 24 hours or so… I’d love for you to join me on this journey. Stay tuned.
Happy Thanksgiving… open that heart of yours and shine your love into this world!