Here in the USA, we’re celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow. It’s a wonderful holiday, a day when almost everyone stops and takes some time to “count their blessings” — to stop and reflect on the many reasons they have to be grateful.

And in giving thanks, our hearts soften, and open. An essential sanity replaces what Rick Hanson called the “paranoid trance” of our public media culture. All of us have reasons to be grateful, many of which we usually take for granted.

Here’s something that can help you begin this day in the true spirit of the holiday — an inspiring 5-minute video by Brother David Steindl-Rast, “A Good Day”:

Watching this beautiful video, I hope you’ll stop to “take in the good” for a few breaths. As Deborah Rozman and Howard Martin of the Institute of HeartMath reminded us, heart emotions like appreciation make our psycho-physiology more coherent. It enlists the intelligence of the heart, in harmony with the intelligence of the head and the gut. In giving thanks, we relax the tendency to be judgmental and dissociated. Paradoxically, this means we see more clearly, not less.

And on that basis, we can actually find our “yes” and make our contributions to a world that needs our unique gifts.

Thank you also for being a part of this amazing community of spiritual consideration. As Beyond Awakening has unfolded, conversation after conversation, I’ve been growing and stretching and switching gears — what a ride! So many rich strands of truth have emerged!

And none of them can be subordinated to any of the others! It’s becoming obvious that the uniqueness of our time is that we have the challenge and opportunity to integrate them all into a new, richer, more integral whole. I’ll be blogging more about this in the days ahead.

Meanwhile, may the glow of Thanksgiving be upon you!

With sincere thanks,

Terry

PS – What are some of the many reasons YOU have to be grateful? Please leave your answers in the comments section below.