As we enter the time of Thanksgiving, I place before you an invitation to contemplate happiness. Your happiness. Your sustainable happiness. I also place before you the invitation to contemplate gratitude. They really do go together you see. These are experiences we have based on the choices we are making in how we engage with ourselves and in the world. One thing I believe is that it is impossible to experience true happiness without feeling profoundly grateful, and feeling grateful plays a primary role in being happy. They go together, like birds of a feather. They hold hands within us like the most cherished friends.
The fundamental nature of human happiness is a feeling of gratitude—gratitude for the essence of what we have been given as human beings to experience in a lifetime, the awe and wonder of it, gratitude for the opportunities available to us to live a meaningful connected life, and for those with whom we share it, and for everything that we as individuals have cultivated to yield this gratefulness in our lives and in the lives of others. It’s a deep feeling of awe, really. Have you felt it? It has a certain quality in the body and senses. What does your’s feel like?
I’m not talking about objectifying happiness, where we view an object outside of ourselves as the goal for our happiness. I’m talking about the state of happiness that we live with. I’m talking about living FROM happiness rather than living TO happiness. What do you cultivate in your life that connects you to your happiness on an ongoing basis? How can you deepen that connection?
Any master of their craft knows that their extraordinary ability comes from their unified alignment with that which they aim to reach, meaning it starts within. The archer with her bow unifies in awareness with the target, claims the space between herself and her target so that they become one. This gives her the ease to land her bow as she chooses, much of the time. She is aware of any gaps in that unified awareness when she doesn’t reach the target, knowing that this gap is her growing edge. It is where she can refine her awareness, which is empowering and engaging rather than defeating and pointless.
So it is with gratitude and happiness. How can you unify with these beautiful attributes inside and connect them with your world seamlessly? What makes you feel most happy and grateful inside, and how can you emanate that into your season of Thanksgiving and in gathering with those you love? You can infuse the food you cook, the table you set, the candles you light, the offerings you bring, and the conversations you have around the table with the inner happiness and gratefulness that is your’s to steward and share.
Sending you blessings of gratitude, and thank you for taking time to read this offering...
Melanie
If you would like to explore your connection to gratitude and thanksgiving more deeply with guidance, feel free to contact me at melanie@innertegrity.com.