A Different View of Gratitude

Dear Reader,

Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays, occurs tomorrow here in the United States. I love the opportunity to be with family and friends, share good food, and enjoy the stark but beautiful colors of an approaching winter in New England.

I also love the fact that the holiday is based in feelings of gratitude.

Gratitude is a powerful feeling, able to move mountains and heal closed or lonely hearts. As the holiday has approached, I have seen one business after another encouraging us to focus on gratitude, and all that we are grateful for, during this season. Facebook is full of gratitude reminders and gratitude quotes.

That’s all great. I begin and end every day focusing on the things I am grateful for, and I recommend it as a transformative practice for anyone. But there’s one aspect of gratitude I haven’t seen mentioned this week, and I’d like to share it with you, now.

Please never forget, dear reader, that someone, somewhere, is grateful for you.

That’s right, you.

It may be that many people are grateful for you, and some of them may be with you right now. It may be that someone you haven’t seen for years, that you were kind to years ago, still remembers and still is grateful for your generosity. It may be that the gratitude of those who have passed still lingers, in you, your memory and being, or in the memory and being of someone who is still present.

You may have no idea how many people’s lives you have touched, or how, or when.

But I guarantee you that you have, at some point in your life, touched somebody else’s life for the better. And chances are, they were and are still grateful. In fact, their gratitude may not be for anything specific you did, but simply for who you are.

So my suggestion for this holiday time, and for anytime, is that yes, we can all focus on the people and things and experiences for which we feel grateful – but let’s also be open to receive gratitude, and to embrace our own generous nature.

Finally, just in case you have difficulty owning that someone out there is grateful for you, dear reader – please know that I am.

I am grateful for you, and that you exist. I am grateful for who you are, and for the path you walk. I am grateful for all of your magnificence. And I am grateful that you and I have the opportunity to connect in this way, as you read these words.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I honor your loving heart,

John