Thanksgiving – giving thanks!

I’m unsure whether ‘Thanksgiving Day’ originated in America, however I’m disappointed that Australians haven’t embraced the concept.

I remember the exact moment when I read the saying ‘Happiness is wanting what you have, not having what you want’. It was actually on the back of a toilet door in a small surf town called Jan Juc approximately 10 years ago. At the time I didn’t realise how profound this statement would be. 

I have spent so many years thinking about the future and mapping out how I wanted my life to turn out, I would dream of so many wonderful moments that could possibly lay ahead for me. I was forever wondering how my life would turn out and what goals I could achieve. You may be thinking ‘there is nothing wrong with this’ – and there isn’t! However I didn’t spend much time appreciating the ‘now’ in my life. I really didn’t focus much on how wonderful my life was in that present moment. If my mind was forever wandering into the future, imagining what the endless possibilities could be, then it was natural that I would also often worry about the unforseen – the catalyst for fear (which I like to now call ‘False Evidence Appearing Real’).  

The idea of thanksgiving (to me) is being grateful for the love and the support of people and situations that have played a big role in shaping who we are today! Today. Today. When we feel gratitude and are reminded of such love & support, it not only provides us happiness of what we have – but attracts more like feelings to us.  If we are always wanting things (whether its love, support or something else we may think will make us happy) then we only bring that like feeling of always ‘wanting’ to us. My advice – feel it now, be grateful and happy now.  To focus only on the future, without being happy in the moment, will never bring us fulfillment. We will always be chasing it – like a mythical unicorn….!