We now enter the holiday season beginning with Thanksgiving – just a week away….amidst the natural travesties of Mother Nature who is not feeling well these days. She has revenged us with unrelenting life-claiming fires in California, massive hurricanes and tornados devastation, and algae blooms clogging our bays and waterways – choking our fish, and contaminating our air.
While government officials deny the evidence of climate change, we live in grief for loss of our homes, our personal effects, and our families, friends and citizens. Another year filled with murderous shootings and marches in Washington demanding equality and basic human rights – we are a nation divided, wounded and searching for help..certainly things are not improving in the “free world”. It is a time for us to go within, a time for “heart reflections” to reconnect us with our families, friends and fellow citizens – with love and compassion from our core.
I believe our inability to solve our problems diplomatically, by finding a common ground among all peoples in our land, is based in fearful commentary spread by the media, and consumed without checking for the facts of the situation. Fear closes our hearts, preventing our ability to consider another person’s point of view.
It might be helpful to remember, fear is contagious, like all emotions. Fear is often not based completely in fact or actual evidence, which enables negative energy to be escalating without our permission. Fear can be decreased by finding actual facts, on which to focus our conscious awareness.
Some Facts to Consider:
- At the end of the day, we are all the same, we are all human beings.
- As humans, we all want to be happy, to be treated respectfully,
and to be acknowledged by other human beings. - We all want to know our lives matter in the larger scale of things.
- We all want the best outcomes for our nation, our communities, and our families.
In this season of grace and thanksgiving, let us turn inward, to look into our hearts. Think of a loved one or friend who is suffering, feel their suffering in your own heart, consciously send them your love and compassion, in a heart-felt prayer for their healing. Remain with this heart-felt wish for their suffering to end for a few moments.
Next, turn your heart’s attention to a stranger who might also be suffering – a homeless person, or someone on the news. Take a few moments to imagine and feel their suffering and pain. Again, consciously send them your love and compassion in a heart-felt prayer for their healing. Stay with the warmth you are generating in your own heart, knowing your prayers have increased the possibility of connecting to someone in need of help.
Opening our hearts to others by imagining they might be our relative, or imagining their suffering might be our very own someday, might help us to see how very much alike we all truly are. Perhaps then we can find solutions to benefit all beings, as we move towards harmony and happiness for all.
Let’s give our thanks and appreciation for all that we have in this life, all that is good, all that is peaceful, and all that brings us happiness. And let’s open our hearts to send compassion and loving-kindness for all beings to live gratitude filled lives.
I offer My Thanksgiving Prayer for all human beings, with Hope it comes true for us all.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy.
May all beings live their lives in peace.
May all beings live without prejudice for their fellow human beings.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday Season!
