The Global Conversation

Tag: Thanksgiving

  • What are we really buying?

    Someone posted this graphic on Facebook awhile ago, presumably in response to news that Kmart will be staying open for 41 hours straight, beginning early on Thanksgiving Day, (for non-Americans reading this, Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday every year, and big sales happen the Friday after stores have been closed for a day.) and several other major retail chains will have opening hours actually on Thanksgiving Day, not the traditional early morning hours of the following Friday, for the “Black Friday” sales.

    no shop graphic

    Of course, even though I agree with this graphic, one must also remember that many/most? work on holidays FOR family.  They need the money.   Living wages are low, and holiday pay is simply higher.

    I think we also have to remember that Americans have a country in which the family structure is being ripped asunder, family “values” are fluid, and we have way too many families that just haven’t bonded, or are broken…and they simply don’t wish to be together. So sad…

    But why are these things this way?  I have my theories, and many of them are articulated in an article found on Shmoop on line.  It says, in part, that during the Eisenhower presidency, things began to shift from a production society, to a consumption society:

    “The difference between a production society, which focused on meeting basic needs, and a consumption society, which emphasized customers’ wants, was like the difference between a 1908 Ford Model T and a 1959 Ford Galaxie. The Model T, available only in black, was a utilitarian piece of machinery intended for basic transportation. The Galaxie, decked out in shiny chrome, was a way to show off and to enjoy a sense of luxury, not just to move from place to place. Within a year or two, it would be obsolete as fashion changed. Blessed with abundant resources, America could afford to turn part of its productive capacity to creating glitz and fashionable waste. An older generation was careful to save and reuse; Americans in the Fifties began to use and throw away. They became ‘consumers.’”  For full article click here.

    Coming from the deprivations of a World War, the temptation towards consumerism was overwhelming.  Add to this that the “powers that be” figured out that planned obsolescence would fuel faster turnover, and the marketing world figured out how to make consumers desire things they don’t even need.

    We became a consumer society.

    We became addicted to “things”, and let “things” define who we are

    …and then we became indentured servants to the banks

    …and when we became indentured servants

    …we did the “right” thing and women started leaving the home, to pay the bills, have more things and in the name of “women’s equality”

    …and left children at home, and with strangers

    …and we made the choice to let advertisers tell our children that  “things” were more important than being with parents

    …and parents started giving “things” instead of time to show their children love.

    We have created a modern version, here in the United States, of debtors prison.  And we have people who no longer know how to interact with one another if we feel the only thing we have to offer is ourselves.  And we exported this vision of ourselves, and set about converting the rest of the world.

    Please don’t get me wrong on a couple of points here.  There is nothing wrong with having those “things” as long as they are not defining your life, and are merely enhancing it.  (Even that statement must be caveated with the knowing that manufacturing, as we know it today, is taking a huge toll on natural and human resources, which is an entirely different discussion.) I know full well that having enough money to cover, at the very least, basic human needs, takes a huge strain off of relationships, and facilitates life.  I also know that the role of women in this world has to shift, and that “women’s rights” is not a dirty little phrase.  In fact, I believe it is the key to changing the direction of this country, and the world.

    Women did, indeed, in the 1950’s and especially the 1960’s, step into the current power paradigm, which, obviously to most of us, is not working. But we are in the next phase of recognizing the hole that we have dug for ourselves. I also believe that it goes against our nature to stay in that energy.  This is a discussion that I have actually had elsewhere on in this newspaper as well.

    I believe that women first had to experience the form of power that had been denied them throughout history, the power of force, in order to feel they had self determination at last.  Power is actually not a bad thing, in and of itself, and is needed at times in order to be the guiding parent, the household organizer, and, yes, the business woman, and more.  But we are now remembering that it has to be tempered with something else…that intangible that is the feminine. Power had to be experienced in order to recognize it wasn’t what was truly being sought.  It is now time to stop playing the game by the old rules.  Time to stop putting a skirt on the men’s rules and calling them feminine.  Women now must recognize there is power in being able to mix their femininity with their male strength.  Time to stop living the “We are all One…and all men are created equal…unless you are a woman.”

    Still, even in the old paradigm, women began to teach, if incompletely, that there really IS a different way to view one another. Unfortunately, in most cases, the change was external…men doing dishes, washing clothes, housework…but then it became more subtle. It became okay for men to share the child-rearing responsibilities… and who is the mentor in this situation? The woman.  Now we have men recognizing their own gentle strength, and men and women teaching this to their sons and daughters.

    Right now we still have too many women so wrapped up in the power paradigm that they don’t even, necessarily recognize that they perpetuate the paradigm that says they are less than.  But this next phase is happening.

    Women, when they are balanced and spiritual and assured of who they are, will be the ones to raise the boys who know the same…and then men will also know their own true power and be allowed to put down the burdens of the current use of that power.

    Balanced women. Balanced men. New paradigm.  Children who feel connected to family for a lifetime.  No need to outsource happiness and still feel empty.  No need to shop on Thanksgiving?  Time to begin living and feeling a new “Oneness” concept?  Time to truly be Grateful?

  • PUBLISHER CALLS FOR ABOLISHING
    THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

    Thanksgiving Day, of course, is one of the biggest family holidays of the year in the United States. But I have an idea about this holiday that is different from most Americans. I think that the holiday should be abolished.

    I don’t think that Thanksgiving should be a holiday at all. I think it should be a holy day, and placed on the calendar of all sacred days and events.

    I also think we should change the way that Thanksgiving is celebrated. Forget about sitting down to a big meal and offering thanks to God for all the bounty that has been received during the past year. Instead, create a new ritual. Sit down together and thank God for all the goodness that is to come.

    Do not go around the table and have each guest tell what he or she has to be thankful for. Rather, go around the table and have each guest say what they are going to be thankful for in the coming year — and then have everyone give thanks right then and there, ahead of time. For that matter, repeat the ritual every day for the next year. Sincerely believe and be grateful for receiving the gifts that you just know will shower down upon you from God’s limitless bounty.

    In Conversations with God the message about gratitude is clear. It is the most powerful form of prayer. Gratitude in advance, not gratitude after the fact.

    This is because to thank God in advance for something is the highest form of faith. It is a statement of supreme confidence. It is the Ultimate Knowing.

    When we come from this Place of Knowing, we move into an energy that creates miracles.

    The most powerful prayer that I ever heard is only 17 words long:

    Thank you, God, for helping me to understand that this problem has already been solved for me.

    So, while it is well and good to say “thanks” for things past, especially with other human beings to whom we owe a word of gratitude, it is extremely empowering to thank God ahead of time for all the goodness that will flow to you in the coming year. It is even more powerful to decide ahead of time what that goodness will be.

    Make a list. Check it twice. Write down all that you choose to have happen between Thanksgiving 2012 and Thanksgiving 2013. Read your list out loud at dinner. Encourage others to do the same. Share and Declare. There are few things more inspiring and powerful than public declaration.

    Suddenly, Thanksgiving 2012 will have a new meaning. It will now be about Sharing and Declaring. It will be about Knowing and Growing. We grow into what we know.

    So I think that Thanksgiving should not be a mere holiday. It should be elevated to a Holy Day. It should be the holiest day of the year. The day on which we say “thanks be to God” for all the wonder, all the abundance, and all the joys of life we anticipate and that we know in our hearts God is sending us in the coming year.

    It should be the holiest day of the year because gratitude is the most sacred tool in the Creator’s Toolbox. With it anything can be produced, anything can be created, anything can be experienced!

    Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

  • Keeping the Thanksgiving “G” in gratitude rather than gluttony & guilt…

    We all know what Thanksgiving day is suppose to represent; gratitude for our abundance and good fortune. But how often does it actually become an excuse for gluttonous behavior that leads to guilt? Making healthy choices can be challenging this time of year, given that the tradition itself is built around an abundance of food and drink. And if you happen to be an addict, a dis-ease that can make any holiday more challenging, this particular one can represent disaster…if you allow it.

    But is that what this day is for? How does gluttonous behavior represent gratitude for an abundant crop? How does behavior that leads to guilt fulfill that which this day is meant to represent? Of course neither does and only conscious choices and decisions today will create a day of Thanksgiving, rather than the alternative g’s which could be had at your expense.

    Perhaps a reminder of Thanksgiving’s beginning will help set the stage for the grateful G to be experienced today.

    As the Thanksgiving story goes…the pilgrims crossed the Atlantic in the year 1620 in the famous sailing vessel Mayflower. Around a 100 souls traveled for nearly two months through extreme difficulties, and after the long sea journey of 66 days, the pilgrims reached the shores of Massachusetts at Plymouth rock on December 11, 1620. 46 of them died due to extreme cold that first winter in their new world, but in the spring of 1621, native Indians taught the pilgrims how to grow foods like corn, beans and pumpkins which helped them to survive. And in the autumn of 1621, they held a grand celebration and feast to thank God for their abundant harvest…and the communal dinner, that is now popularly known as The Thanksgiving Day Feast, was born. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, weary from Civil War, asked all Americans to set aside the last Thursday in November as a day of Thanksgiving…and a tradition was built that has lasted the test of time.

    As we are reminded in this childhood history lesson, there was great cost and sacrifice given by those who sought religious freedom, and perhaps just freedom itself, as they were willing to risk it all to take the journey into the unknown with faith and hope as their guide. As anyone who has sacrificed for a cause or dream will attest, gratitude for reaping those kinds of rewards are deeply felt, especially given the price paid for having them realized.

    Speaking of cost and sacrifice, the stories of gratitude around those who are fortunate enough to have a dinner table this year will be plenty. I am thinking of my friends on the East Coast for example. My office is located on Long Island New York, which you may have noticed has been in the news a great deal of late. A unfriendly miss named Sandy arrived uninvited a couple of weeks back, and she decided to wreak havoc in millions of lives. Sandy packed a double wallop for many, not only by stripping some of everything they owned, but over a hundred paid the ultimate cost with their lives. No one was left untouched by her aftermath, even if they made it through without a scratch.

    New Yorkers are no strangers to dealing painful events and they once again have risen to meet the challenges left behind from the unwanted changes visited upon them by that uncaring bitch – of a storm. Grief stricken as so many still are, dealing with the shock of what has happened, yet still getting up everyday and attempting to return life to some kind of normal. I know Thanksgiving will take on a deeper meaning for most East Coasters this year, as it can for each of us that bore witness to the human spirit which shone through the survivors.

    Marcus Aurelius said: “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive, to breath, to think, to enjoy, to love”. Yes that is what this day of Thanksgiving can represent for you. If that is what you choose to focus on today the gratitude will flow at will.

    I was reflecting on past Thanksgivings and the struggle I have had, even in the best of times, when it comes to making good food choices at these holiday feasts. I am not sure what it is about special occasions that makes it more challenging than other days to be healthy, besides the simple abundance of those tempting offerings that adorn holiday tables everywhere. These days for me planning ahead makes all the difference when it comes to making healthy food and drink choices that leave me feeling fulfilled rather than stuffed like that turkey. So with my decision in place to be grateful today, a choice that benefits me everyday I make it, the practical side of me offers a healthy treat recipe that can make your day sweet without the guilt attached with some of the other food choices that may be presented at your feast. Here then I offer my guiltless goodie…

    GUILTLESS BROWNIES

    1/4 cup Grade B Maple Syrup

    1/2 cup Coconut oil

    1 tsp Vanilla

    2 Eggs

    1/2 cup Oat Bran

    1/4 cup ground Flax Seed

    1/2 cup Dark Cocoa Powder

    1/2 tsp Baking Powder (note–>not baking soda)

    1 pinch Sea Salt (for balance)

    2 shakes cinnamon

    1/2 cup Unsweetened Applesauce

    1/4 cup Unsalted Almond butter

    1/2 cup Organic Raisins, Walnuts or/and Coconut flakes

    1 cup dark chocolate or carob chips

    LOTS of LOVE!

    Note: can add 1 ripe banana for extra moist brownies

    Heat oven to 350

    Mix Maple Syrup, Butter Spread, Vanilla, Eggs, Peanut Butter & Applesauce together. Then toss in the raisins/walnuts & 1/2 cup of the carob chips.

    In separate bowl, mix dry ingredients; oat bran, baking powder, salt, cocoa, cinnamon, flax, etc.

    Then, as guessed, mix dry ingredients into the wet bowl and spread into greased square pan (Trader Joes has a great spray olive oil) 8x8x2 inch pan, if possible.

    Bake for 22 minutes, then turn oven off and add the 2nd half of the carob chips (1/2 cup, although I usually add more) on top of cooked brownies. Close oven and let warm for 1 minute.

    Be sure to not leave in too long with chips on top or it will ruin the spread-factor (no fun).

    Take out and spread melted carob or dark chocolate chips on top to make icing. Cover to keep moist, then eat when even the slightest bit ready and enjoy!!

    Finally, I ask you to take a moment in reply here to offer what your gratitude will be on this Thanksgiving day. Writing is perhaps one of the greatest action tools there is in creating your life experience. Enrolling others in your vision will also help us all to create a Happy Thanksgiving day! And I do hope it is a happy one for you but hope is not required when choice is made. Remember your choice to BE grateful along with your actions today is what will create your reality. You are a powerful creator…choose wisely.

    No matter what is happening in the circumstances area of your life, may you create this day as the most incredible Thanksgiving ever. And then perhaps, consider making that choice each and every day going forward, because everyday can be Thanksgiving day. Imagine then, a world where the greater number of us chose gratitude over guilt, love over fear, peace over war etc. etc. etc.

    There is much to be grateful for today – how will you choose to express and fulfill that state of beingness? Holding you all in prayerful gratitude – JR

    (J.R. Westen, D.D. is a Holistic Health & Spiritual Counselor who has worked and presented side-by-side with Neale Donald Walsch for over a decade. He is passionate about helping individuals move beyond their emotional and spiritual challenges, transforming breakdowns into breakthroughs. His coaching provides practical wisdom and guidance that can be immediately incorporated to shift one’s experience of life. As is true for most impactful teachers, J.R.’s own struggles and triumphs inspired him to find powerful ways of helping others. Sober since June 1, 1986, J.R.’s passion for helping individuals move through intense life challenges drove him to also specialize in Addiction and Grief Recovery. J.R. currently shares his gift of counseling & coaching with individuals from around the world through the Wellness Center, Simply Vibrant, located on Long Island N.Y.  In addition, he works with Escondido Sobering Services and serves on the Board of Directors for the Conversations with God Foundation. He can be contacted at JR@theglobalconversation.com, or to book an appointment, write support@simplyvibrant.com.)

  • A Word of Thanks for Every Day

    Each year, the fourth Thursday of November is set aside as a day of giving. As we give our dishes, give our time, and give our thoughts, we come together on this day to give our love to our closest family and friends. If only once a year, we become aware of just how significant these people have been in co-creating our life story.  By giving our love, we become grateful of the love that has been given to us.  For the essence of this day, Thanksgiving Day, is the expression of gratitude.

    As we express our gratitude, we slowly begin to understand the Bigger Picture.  When we are grateful for all the little moments, with friends, with family, with ourselves, we begin to understand how each of these moments, occurring at exactly the same moment and instant of time, transformed our very definition of Who We Were into Who We Are.  By taking a single moment of gratitude for these moments, we are inspired by the incredible awe of how every decision, every occurrence, every conversation led us to become the very being we are today.  By taking an entire day of gratitude for these interactions, we are the source of ever-constant awareness that only seeks to expand love and compassion in everyone that crosses our path.  Within just this one day, we spread our gratitude into a world that needs further compassion.

    Within understanding the feeling and energy behind gratitude, we can’t help but to wonder about our time frame for giving the gift of gratitude.  Why can’t we nationally recognize gratitude on more than just one day in the year?  Why can’t our thankfulness for our family, friends, and community last longer than the second course of the dinner?  We can extend our gratitude beyond the calendar day and into every day and continue to feel that awe and wonder in every breath of life.  Loving another, or even loving yourself, has NO limitations in its magnitude or its duration.  Within our generation of teens, the gift of gratitude is one that is felt far beyond one day, but extends itself into lifetimes.  We, as the new generation, will decide our choice of expression.  Live the word.  The Word of Gratitude.

    (Lauren is a Feature Editor of The Global Conversation. She lives in Wood Dale, IL, and can be reached at Lauren@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

  • Thanks for nothing, God

    As we once again find ourselves on the threshold of the Thanksgiving holiday, the season of gratitude, I want to thank God for everything in my life that is wrong, for all the things in my life that I have either lost or never received, and for all the outcomes that did not turn out right.

    …I want to thank God for the relationships that are no longer a part of my reality in the way they once comfortably were, for the friendships and lovers who transitioned out of my life and moved in new directions, and for the encounters with my Brothers and Sisters on Planet Earth that were less than pleasant and far from an experience of Oneness.

    …I want to thank God for the money that is not in my bank account.  I feel especially grateful for having to give up some of the things in my life I truly enjoyed because I could no longer afford to pay for them.

    …I want to thank God for the moments in my life when I felt alone, as though nobody understood me or even cared, the moments where the silence in the room echoed loudly, the colors of life were drained of their vibrance, and time stood dreadfully still.

    …I want to thank God for the professional promotions I did not receive, the career opportunities I was overlooked for, and the jobs I was matter-of-factly asked not to return to.

    …I want to thank God for the aches and pains in my physical being, the nights where I am plagued with insomnia, the extra body weight I have had a difficult time shedding, and the way my mirror stares mockingly back at me some days.

    …I want to thank God for the rattle in my car, the leaky faucet in my bathroom, the slowest line at the bank, the disproportionate number of red lights during my morning commute, last night’s quarrel with my spouse, the empty orange juice container, the paper cut, the stubbed toe, the neighbor who mows his yard at 6:00 a.m., and the one red shirt that mysteriously found its way into my washing machine along with a load of what is now formerly white clothes.

    Yes, God, thank you.

    The wonderful and lovely occurrences in life present us an obvious opportunity to experience and express gratitude.  Appreciation flows generously in moments of ease and abundance.  But how can we experience thankfulness in the midst of strife and turmoil?  How can we feel abundant when we feel as though we have nothing?  Is it possible that the events in life that reveal themselves to us under the guise of calamity hold within them the same opportunity for self-realization as those which seem to appear peacefully and effortlessly?

    The people, places, and things which show up as “wrong” serve to illuminate that which is “right,” remembering that it is only within the human understanding of “wrong” or “right” that anything can be judged as so.  There is not a single occurrence which does not lead you to a higher experience of Who You Really Are, whether you are being invited to that remembrance through an experience of having or not having, losing or finding, propelling forward or retracting back, feeling frustrated or feeling overjoyed.

    I will be expressing my deepest gratitude to God for the “nothings” in my life this Thanksgiving and thanking Her for the expanding awareness that continues to allow me to see the possibilities within what might otherwise appear to be “wrong.”

    How about you?

    (Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation.  She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team atwww.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)

     

     

  • A child’s life of gratitude

    Neale Donald Walsch said recently, “A master lives in gratitude at every moment.”

    How can we guide our children to find their own meaningful experience of a life of gratitude?

    In the U.S., the month of November is often a time to reflect on one’s good fortune.  As we approach Thanksgiving, social media is inundated with “30 Days of Thankfulness” posts, while many renew their attention to charitable giving and volunteering as an outpouring of their gratitude. These phenomena are demonstrations of one of the core concepts of Conversations with God, “There is Enough,” which teaches us that the world is an abundant place in which every person can get what they need and that scarcity only exists as we, collectively, allow it to persist.  Feeling this way in November is a great step toward a thankful life, but what about feeling gratitude during the other months of the year?

    In a society which is centered on external factors of happiness — acquiring more material things, improving physical appearances, and glorifying competition — it can be difficult to instill a constant and unshakeable sense of inner completeness in your family’s hearts and minds; however, when approaching life through your spirituality, you learn that instead of looking out there, you must start searching within to find fulfillment. In fact, the root of all happiness is gratitude.  Being grateful helps us to see everything more positively, even the aspects of our lives we wish to change. Encouraging children to embrace and embody gratitude assists them in their spiritual development, as well as their view of the world around them.

    Children learn by example. One way to demonstrate your own gratitude is to, as they say, find the silver lining in negative situations, and share those sentiments with your children. Another way is to share your abundance with others by donating time, resources, or just a kind word to another.  Giving of yourself to another person helps you appreciate your own gifts and blessings. A daily practice of gratitude allows it to permeate your thoughts more fully, becoming an integral part of your Be-ing. To this end, children, whether school-aged or even younger, can contribute to your family’s daily gratitude journal by drawing pictures, writing words, or even verbally expressing gratitude (for you to write for them).

    Whatever way you choose to bring an awareness and practice of gratitude into your home, it will bring you closer together. I believe you will find that it takes the edge off of a rough day, endears you to each other, and easily becomes a large part of your dialogue and vocabulary…allowing you, and your children, to live in gratitude at every moment.

    (Emily A. Filmore is the Creative Co-Director of www.cwgforparents.com.  She is also the author/illustrator of the “With My Child” Series of books about bonding with your child through everyday activities.  Her books are available at www.withmychildseries.com. To contact Emily, please email her at Emily@cwgforparents.com.)