This Week’s Quotation:

So how do you change your experience from “running on empty” to your “cup overflowing”? The answer is so profound, so deep, and yet so simple that it tends to escape people. The answer is gratitude for what we are receiving from the universe. It might not be what you think you want and it might not be “how you like it.”

But the universe is being generous with you. For starters, it is giving you life right now! And now! And now! It gave you the opportunity to experience your whole life, with all its drama. It gave you people to be with, even though your relationships with them can be difficult sometimes. The more you give thanks for the generosity of the universe, the more your cup is filled. The more you live your life with a thankful heart, the more you have to be thankful for.

~ Becoming a Sun p. 42

Thanksgiving Meditation

There is so much about the first Thanksgiving in America that contrasts with common belief. The Pilgrims didn’t call themselves Pilgrims. They called the feast a rejoicing, not Thanksgiving. And there is no record of serving turkey.

What is remarkable is the spirit of celebration that marked the occasion. The local Native American population had been ravaged by smallpox and other infectious diseases brought by Europeans. The Pilgrims had arrived in the New World in December of the previous year and so faced the harshness of a North American winter. They lost half their population. And still, they celebrated. They appreciated each other and what they had. They gave thanks for the grace that they knew.

The word thanksgiving has lost some of its meaning in contemporary culture beyond naming a public holiday. Originally, thanksgiving celebrations included deep prayer and profound gratitude to God. More simply said, thanksgiving is the ability to enjoy life and to celebrate what has come to us.

The Pilgrims demonstrated an ability to rejoice in whatever life brought without waiting for it to be totally to their liking. It is so easy to get that exactly backward—to be waiting for life’s circumstances to improve before we enjoy them. I say, Eat dessert first. Celebrate now! And if you feel guilty doing it, enjoy the guilt. 

If the Pilgrims and Native Americans could rejoice on the first Thanksgiving, so can we.

What does it mean to become a sun?

Every human being is already a sun on the inside—a being of intense love and light. The difference is that some people have the vision and courage to become a sun on the outside. This difference is our human destiny.