"Thanksgiving enables us to be fully present in each of the moments of our lives and, at the same time, be fully present to the eternity which is crashing into those moments (for those who have eyes to see). We have the ability to resist the culture of despair by bearing witness to life and hope! Cynicism loosens its smugly fearful, icy grip, warmed by winds of thanks."
This will be my final day meditating on thankfulness. To be honest, I need to move on. When I started this project, it was just something that sounded like a good idea to me. It was a good idea. But thankfulness is no longer what I am focusing on. Perhaps I will choose another meditation next, like discipline or maybe joy. Perhaps I will take a break. This was a very enriching project partly because I had no idea where it was going to take me or what form the thankfulness was going to take. I figured that for this final post, I would go over some of the lessons that I learned. However, if you want to do that, you can simply go back and read the previous posts.
I will however, leave with a final note: thankfulness is vitally important and vitally under-appreciated in our society. Again, I was going to explicate this further, but this has been what this whole project has been about, and I need not tread where I have already journeyed. I will say that the reason that I am moving on is because I am not currently passionate about an attitude of thankfulness, or at least writing about it and thus I am currently unwilling to give it the effortfull thought that it requires. But I am excited for two things: that I stuck to this project and to see what my next project will be.
I do hope that you learned something from this; actually, scratch that, I hope that you grew and became a better person through my subtle, gentle meditations. If not, it was still a healthy project for me to do. Thank you for reading if you have.
This has been the 9th and final day meditating on thankfulness.
Friday, January 16, 2015
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Meditations on Thankfulness: Day 8
"Thanksgiving enables us to be fully present in each of the moments of our lives and, at the same time, be fully present to the eternity which is crashing into those moments (for those who have eyes to see). We have the ability to resist the culture of despair by bearing witness to life and hope! Cynicism loosens its smugly fearful, icy grip, warmed by winds of thanks."
For posterity's sake, I figured that I would spend this time giving some practical examples from my recent life. The first comes from a couple of weeks ago when I was nodding off to sleep. The guy who currently sleeps next to me has had a vicious cough for the last several weeks and on this particular night, he was coughing particularly hard. Instead of being agitated at the distraction, I chose to be thankful and let my mind play within the realm of thankfulness. It got to the point that I became so thankful that I have good health, that my body has a great immune system, and that I have access, if I were to need it, to pristine medical facilities. All of this thankfulness, which gave way to joy, was created simply from the harsh cough of my roommate.
Another time, I was on my way to work, utterly thankful that I have a job. Every time that I see people who are looking for a job or are utterly without one, I am thankful again that I have a job and one that does a fairly adequate job of providing for me. Just simply allowing myself to go down this path resulted in not only a joy but also a desire to share the profits therefrom with those who do not possess a job.
I guess the point of this post is merely to illuminate that these things that I have been discussing are not just nice ideals, but can in fact invigorate you.
This has been the eighth day meditating on thankfulness.
For posterity's sake, I figured that I would spend this time giving some practical examples from my recent life. The first comes from a couple of weeks ago when I was nodding off to sleep. The guy who currently sleeps next to me has had a vicious cough for the last several weeks and on this particular night, he was coughing particularly hard. Instead of being agitated at the distraction, I chose to be thankful and let my mind play within the realm of thankfulness. It got to the point that I became so thankful that I have good health, that my body has a great immune system, and that I have access, if I were to need it, to pristine medical facilities. All of this thankfulness, which gave way to joy, was created simply from the harsh cough of my roommate.
Another time, I was on my way to work, utterly thankful that I have a job. Every time that I see people who are looking for a job or are utterly without one, I am thankful again that I have a job and one that does a fairly adequate job of providing for me. Just simply allowing myself to go down this path resulted in not only a joy but also a desire to share the profits therefrom with those who do not possess a job.
I guess the point of this post is merely to illuminate that these things that I have been discussing are not just nice ideals, but can in fact invigorate you.
This has been the eighth day meditating on thankfulness.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Meditations on Thankfulness: Day 7
"Thanksgiving enables us to be fully present in each of the moments of our lives and, at the same time, be fully present to the eternity which is crashing into those moments (for those who have eyes to see). We have the ability to resist the culture of despair by bearing witness to life and hope! Cynicism loosens its smugly fearful, icy grip, warmed by winds of thanks."
Throughout this venture, I have kept talking about all of the benefits of thankfulness. However, might there be negatives? The only one that is on my mind right now, and the purpose of this post, is the idea of complacency. I think that thankfulness as an attitude should motivate you to act, however I have also frequently discussed the idea of being firmly content with what you have, even for small things. I think when that fails is when that contentment grows into complacency and leads you to not try to improve things when they are not as great as they could be. Do not get me wrong: complacency and contentment are not the same thing. But, if thankfulness leads to complacency then it can be said that it has a negative consequence.
However, I do not think that this is a natural outcome of thankfulness. The contrary is a reality wherein you are so thankful for something that you desire to make it great, make it better. It is in this that the secret to defeating complacency, which some may say is a natural by-product of thankfulness, lies. Thankfulness can lead to a burning desire to be great, just as much as it can lead to complacency.
This all begs the question: where does the line form? Where is the line between contentment and complacency, between a lazy, eyes-closed satisfaction and a burning desire to be great that has resulted from thankfulness? Right now, I do not have the answer to this question. I believe that it is a case-by-case scenario and that perhaps I will find the answer in further meditation, but perhaps the line is an invisible one. I just encourage everyone to be thankful, and be a man/woman of action and of greatness because of your thankfulness, not of lazy complacency.
This has been the seventh day meditating of thankfulness.
Throughout this venture, I have kept talking about all of the benefits of thankfulness. However, might there be negatives? The only one that is on my mind right now, and the purpose of this post, is the idea of complacency. I think that thankfulness as an attitude should motivate you to act, however I have also frequently discussed the idea of being firmly content with what you have, even for small things. I think when that fails is when that contentment grows into complacency and leads you to not try to improve things when they are not as great as they could be. Do not get me wrong: complacency and contentment are not the same thing. But, if thankfulness leads to complacency then it can be said that it has a negative consequence.
However, I do not think that this is a natural outcome of thankfulness. The contrary is a reality wherein you are so thankful for something that you desire to make it great, make it better. It is in this that the secret to defeating complacency, which some may say is a natural by-product of thankfulness, lies. Thankfulness can lead to a burning desire to be great, just as much as it can lead to complacency.
This all begs the question: where does the line form? Where is the line between contentment and complacency, between a lazy, eyes-closed satisfaction and a burning desire to be great that has resulted from thankfulness? Right now, I do not have the answer to this question. I believe that it is a case-by-case scenario and that perhaps I will find the answer in further meditation, but perhaps the line is an invisible one. I just encourage everyone to be thankful, and be a man/woman of action and of greatness because of your thankfulness, not of lazy complacency.
This has been the seventh day meditating of thankfulness.
Friday, December 26, 2014
Meditations on Thankfulness: Day 6
"Thanksgiving enables us to be fully present in each of the moments of our lives and, at the same time, be fully present to the eternity which is crashing into those moments (for those who have eyes to see). We have the ability to resist the culture of despair by bearing witness to life and hope! Cynicism loosens its smugly fearful, icy grip, warmed by winds of thanks."
Thankfulness takes work. This is in part an answer to my inquiry in the last post. Perhaps it is not that I am ungrateful, just a bit lazy. I was even unsure of if I would write this post today because it takes energy and effort to do so, just as it does to be thankful. The simple reality is that although it would be great if (and sometimes this does happen) you are just a bystander as thankfulness possess you, but often this is not the case. More often than not, I believe that thankfulness is necessitated by critical thought; you need to allow thankfulness to take its hold of you and it is that much more likely to do so. On the contrary, if you think that you can be a bystander and yet still develop an attitude of thankfulness, than it is much less likely to happen.
Perhaps you may think that this all goes without saying, and perhaps it does and I do believe that it is implied in the previous posts. However, I would be utterly remiss if I went all this time without simply stating this fact, thankfulness requires critical thought. You need to think about what you are thankful for, critically. If you allow yourself to grow lazy and complacent in your thinking and even in your thankfulness, then thankfulness will not only not likely take effect, but it will likely not be as potent if it does. I think this is true of many things, but this is after all a meditation on thankfulness.
I arrived at this by thinking about all of the things that I am thankful for, as I often do, but especially now since it is Christmas time I felt like this would be a healthy exercise. But I also found within myself a proclivity to be lazy and not want to think critically about this. It then hit me just how much thought and energy and effort thankfulness actually requires. I think that in seasons when I do not find myself being very thankful or when i find that my thankfulness is not affecting me like I wish that it would, at least in terms of my actions, it is likely that I am not giving it the thought that it requires and would behoove me to do so. I need to delve deeper and concede that thankfulness takes much critical thought and effort.
This has been the sixth day meditating on thankfulness.
Thankfulness takes work. This is in part an answer to my inquiry in the last post. Perhaps it is not that I am ungrateful, just a bit lazy. I was even unsure of if I would write this post today because it takes energy and effort to do so, just as it does to be thankful. The simple reality is that although it would be great if (and sometimes this does happen) you are just a bystander as thankfulness possess you, but often this is not the case. More often than not, I believe that thankfulness is necessitated by critical thought; you need to allow thankfulness to take its hold of you and it is that much more likely to do so. On the contrary, if you think that you can be a bystander and yet still develop an attitude of thankfulness, than it is much less likely to happen.
Perhaps you may think that this all goes without saying, and perhaps it does and I do believe that it is implied in the previous posts. However, I would be utterly remiss if I went all this time without simply stating this fact, thankfulness requires critical thought. You need to think about what you are thankful for, critically. If you allow yourself to grow lazy and complacent in your thinking and even in your thankfulness, then thankfulness will not only not likely take effect, but it will likely not be as potent if it does. I think this is true of many things, but this is after all a meditation on thankfulness.
I arrived at this by thinking about all of the things that I am thankful for, as I often do, but especially now since it is Christmas time I felt like this would be a healthy exercise. But I also found within myself a proclivity to be lazy and not want to think critically about this. It then hit me just how much thought and energy and effort thankfulness actually requires. I think that in seasons when I do not find myself being very thankful or when i find that my thankfulness is not affecting me like I wish that it would, at least in terms of my actions, it is likely that I am not giving it the thought that it requires and would behoove me to do so. I need to delve deeper and concede that thankfulness takes much critical thought and effort.
This has been the sixth day meditating on thankfulness.
Monday, December 22, 2014
Meditations on Thankfulness: Day 5
"Thanksgiving enables us to be fully present in each of the moments of our lives and, at the same time, be fully present to the eternity which is crashing into those moments (for those who have eyes to see). We have the ability to resist the culture of despair by bearing witness to life and hope! Cynicism loosens its smugly fearful, icy grip, warmed by winds of thanks."
Am I thankful? This is a question that I have been wrestling with since I started this project. I mean, am I thankful, really? This whole project has depended on my own thankfulness, and I have talked about how I believe that thankfulness as an attitude leads one to act in such a way, so every time I act in a way that is not indicative of thankfulness, I find myself asking, 'Am I really thankful?' Or, I guess, why is the way I act not always consistent with someone who is thankful as an attitude? This question haunts me. The reason that today's meditation is more on my own disposition than really on thankfulness is because I want to be as transparent as possible with where I am at. The reason for that is so that you are better able to traverse what I say and understand with the biases that I am going into this project with. Understand, I wish that my actions were more consistent with my admitted disposition, but sometimes they do not line up. It is something that I am working on; after all, if my thankfulness does not motivate and guide my actions, what is the real point of it?
And that gets to the heart of where this haunting question has lead me to: if it does not motivate, what is the point of thankfulness? It is a nice idea, but just as with anything, it has to affect the type of person you are. It is akin to the word 'sorry'; it sounds nice, and as the recipient I appreciate that you are apologetic, but if you are truly sorrowful, it will affect your actions going forward. The same is true with thankfulness, and I think that actions that line up and back up words and attitudes validate and make genuine thankfulness. So, I do not think that it is a stretch to say that my thankfulness is not fully valid and partially not genuine. I accept that, and again, I am trying to change. I would encourage you, if this exercise at all allows you to better seek thankfulness and if you have more of a desire for it as an attitude, seek genuine thankfulness with actions that validate.
This has been the fourth day meditating on thankfulness.
Am I thankful? This is a question that I have been wrestling with since I started this project. I mean, am I thankful, really? This whole project has depended on my own thankfulness, and I have talked about how I believe that thankfulness as an attitude leads one to act in such a way, so every time I act in a way that is not indicative of thankfulness, I find myself asking, 'Am I really thankful?' Or, I guess, why is the way I act not always consistent with someone who is thankful as an attitude? This question haunts me. The reason that today's meditation is more on my own disposition than really on thankfulness is because I want to be as transparent as possible with where I am at. The reason for that is so that you are better able to traverse what I say and understand with the biases that I am going into this project with. Understand, I wish that my actions were more consistent with my admitted disposition, but sometimes they do not line up. It is something that I am working on; after all, if my thankfulness does not motivate and guide my actions, what is the real point of it?
And that gets to the heart of where this haunting question has lead me to: if it does not motivate, what is the point of thankfulness? It is a nice idea, but just as with anything, it has to affect the type of person you are. It is akin to the word 'sorry'; it sounds nice, and as the recipient I appreciate that you are apologetic, but if you are truly sorrowful, it will affect your actions going forward. The same is true with thankfulness, and I think that actions that line up and back up words and attitudes validate and make genuine thankfulness. So, I do not think that it is a stretch to say that my thankfulness is not fully valid and partially not genuine. I accept that, and again, I am trying to change. I would encourage you, if this exercise at all allows you to better seek thankfulness and if you have more of a desire for it as an attitude, seek genuine thankfulness with actions that validate.
This has been the fourth day meditating on thankfulness.
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Meditations on Thankfulness: Day 4
"Thanksgiving enables us to be fully present in each of the moments of our lives and, at the same time, be fully present to the eternity which is crashing into those moments (for those who have eyes to see). We have the ability to resist the culture of despair by bearing witness to life and hope! Cynicism loosens its smugly fearful, icy grip, warmed by winds of thanks."
In being thankful for something, what is the right response? Is it to guard it, making sure that nothing happens to it, or is it to share it, hoping that others get tot enjoy this thing that you have so much thankfulness for? This is something that I have come to wonder about in this latest edition. I think that many people that I have had the pleasure of interacting with in my lifetime have taken the former approach (i. e. if you are thankful for your money, make sure to keep it safe and ensure that nothing happens to it), whereas I have taken the latter (i. e. if you are thankful for money, share it with others who have less so that they may have money also). This latter approach really comes out of the previous meditation, thinking on where thankfulness comes from. I noted that thankfulness comes from having a lack of something, at least for me, and I am sure that there are more places that thankfulness comes from that will continue to be unpacked as this project continues. Understanding that, it is easy to see why I take the latter view: knowing that my thanksgiving comes from previously having had a lack of something but now having an abundance, I want to share with others who have a lack ensuring that they get to enjoy the same benefits from whatever it is that I get to enjoy.
However, for you if thanksgiving comes from somewhere else (say for instance the pleasure that you get from whatever it is that you are thankful for), than your inclination might be to the former approach because you seek to preserve that pleasure for as long as possible. You do not share what you have, seeking to allow others to also enjoy the pleasure that you get, because you know that in doing so you will thereby receive less glory because there will be less of whatever it is. (This may sound cynical and you may be thinking that you would never actually prescribe to this mindset, but I would challenge and encourage you to think realistically and unbiased about yourself and ask whether or not this really is your mindset. It is far more common than you might realize.)
However, neither of these really addresses the question of what should an adequate response to thankfulness be. And to answer that, you have to answer what type of a person you desire to be. If you want to be a great person who changes the world and is selfless with what you have, then the only proper response to thankfulness has to be inevitably a desire to share your blessings and what you have with others so that they too get to partake. However, if you do not care about being a great, selfless individual, then why be selfless as a response to thanksgiving? I think that it is truly the best response, sharing and generosity but one which is not seen enough. Be generous understanding that you will likely get burned many times, but it is not your primary prerogative, at least it should not be, to protect yourself from being burned. It should be your primary prerogative to ensure that the world is a better place than it was before you were in it because you were in it.
This has been the fourth day meditating on thankfulness.
In being thankful for something, what is the right response? Is it to guard it, making sure that nothing happens to it, or is it to share it, hoping that others get tot enjoy this thing that you have so much thankfulness for? This is something that I have come to wonder about in this latest edition. I think that many people that I have had the pleasure of interacting with in my lifetime have taken the former approach (i. e. if you are thankful for your money, make sure to keep it safe and ensure that nothing happens to it), whereas I have taken the latter (i. e. if you are thankful for money, share it with others who have less so that they may have money also). This latter approach really comes out of the previous meditation, thinking on where thankfulness comes from. I noted that thankfulness comes from having a lack of something, at least for me, and I am sure that there are more places that thankfulness comes from that will continue to be unpacked as this project continues. Understanding that, it is easy to see why I take the latter view: knowing that my thanksgiving comes from previously having had a lack of something but now having an abundance, I want to share with others who have a lack ensuring that they get to enjoy the same benefits from whatever it is that I get to enjoy.
However, for you if thanksgiving comes from somewhere else (say for instance the pleasure that you get from whatever it is that you are thankful for), than your inclination might be to the former approach because you seek to preserve that pleasure for as long as possible. You do not share what you have, seeking to allow others to also enjoy the pleasure that you get, because you know that in doing so you will thereby receive less glory because there will be less of whatever it is. (This may sound cynical and you may be thinking that you would never actually prescribe to this mindset, but I would challenge and encourage you to think realistically and unbiased about yourself and ask whether or not this really is your mindset. It is far more common than you might realize.)
However, neither of these really addresses the question of what should an adequate response to thankfulness be. And to answer that, you have to answer what type of a person you desire to be. If you want to be a great person who changes the world and is selfless with what you have, then the only proper response to thankfulness has to be inevitably a desire to share your blessings and what you have with others so that they too get to partake. However, if you do not care about being a great, selfless individual, then why be selfless as a response to thanksgiving? I think that it is truly the best response, sharing and generosity but one which is not seen enough. Be generous understanding that you will likely get burned many times, but it is not your primary prerogative, at least it should not be, to protect yourself from being burned. It should be your primary prerogative to ensure that the world is a better place than it was before you were in it because you were in it.
This has been the fourth day meditating on thankfulness.
Friday, December 19, 2014
Meditations on Thankfulness: Day 3
"Thanksgiving enables us to be fully present in each of the moments of our lives and, at the same time, be fully present to the eternity which is crashing into those moments (for those who have eyes to see). We have the ability to resist the culture of despair by bearing witness to life and hope! Cynicism loosens its smugly fearful, icy grip, warmed by winds of thanks."
Where does thankfulness come from? That is the question that I find myself wrestling with today. I mean, if you find that you are not thankful, how are you able to make yourself so? Or is that even possible? Is it all a matter of genetics, the way you were raised, etc. and thus unable to be changed? I do not think that that is the case. However, if not, then what?
To best answer these questions, the logical first starting point is to ask myself why I am thankful. If I can get to the root of where my thankfulness comes from, then perhaps I will be able to discern how one who is not thankful can change and become so. But before I even begin this mental excursion, I must clarify something. I have been talking about thankfulness and its benefits and implicit in this is the notion that you should be thankful to receive the benefits therefrom. This is a tactic that I have been subconsciously using in order to try and convince you, the reader, to be thankful. But let us get something clear: while I think it is incredibly beneficial to have thankfulness as an attitude and while I think you should be thankful, I think that the reason that you should be should be entirely selfless. You should be thankful because having thankfulness as an attitude just makes the world a better place. Be selfless in your reason for thankfulness because thankfulness itself is selfless and I have already discussed how dependent thankfulness is on humility, which is a bedfellow with selflessness. I just felt the need to clarify why I think thankfulness should be adopted as an attitude.
All that being said, I do think that my thankfulness originates from a place of suffering and lack of. Whatever it is that I am thankful, I am thankful for because I used to not have it. For instance, I am thankful for loving relationships because there have been periods of my life where I have lacked these things. I am thankful for a job because I have lacked a job at times in my life. This is where particular thankfulness comes from, but I think that thankfulness as an attitude is a result of a conglomeration of these little thankfulnesses. I do not know how many of these thankfulnesses are required before you really have an attitude of thankfulness, but I do believe that that is where you come from. But this begs the question: if you are not thankful, how can you become so? This is, after all, the original question we set out to answer.
I find myself unequipped with that answer at this time. I guess I would say, you do not really value something unless you lack of it. Perhaps further meditations will help expound on this question, but for now I would just say that you need to lack something before you can really value and be thankful for it to the fullest.
This has been the third day meditating on thankfulness.
Where does thankfulness come from? That is the question that I find myself wrestling with today. I mean, if you find that you are not thankful, how are you able to make yourself so? Or is that even possible? Is it all a matter of genetics, the way you were raised, etc. and thus unable to be changed? I do not think that that is the case. However, if not, then what?
To best answer these questions, the logical first starting point is to ask myself why I am thankful. If I can get to the root of where my thankfulness comes from, then perhaps I will be able to discern how one who is not thankful can change and become so. But before I even begin this mental excursion, I must clarify something. I have been talking about thankfulness and its benefits and implicit in this is the notion that you should be thankful to receive the benefits therefrom. This is a tactic that I have been subconsciously using in order to try and convince you, the reader, to be thankful. But let us get something clear: while I think it is incredibly beneficial to have thankfulness as an attitude and while I think you should be thankful, I think that the reason that you should be should be entirely selfless. You should be thankful because having thankfulness as an attitude just makes the world a better place. Be selfless in your reason for thankfulness because thankfulness itself is selfless and I have already discussed how dependent thankfulness is on humility, which is a bedfellow with selflessness. I just felt the need to clarify why I think thankfulness should be adopted as an attitude.
All that being said, I do think that my thankfulness originates from a place of suffering and lack of. Whatever it is that I am thankful, I am thankful for because I used to not have it. For instance, I am thankful for loving relationships because there have been periods of my life where I have lacked these things. I am thankful for a job because I have lacked a job at times in my life. This is where particular thankfulness comes from, but I think that thankfulness as an attitude is a result of a conglomeration of these little thankfulnesses. I do not know how many of these thankfulnesses are required before you really have an attitude of thankfulness, but I do believe that that is where you come from. But this begs the question: if you are not thankful, how can you become so? This is, after all, the original question we set out to answer.
I find myself unequipped with that answer at this time. I guess I would say, you do not really value something unless you lack of it. Perhaps further meditations will help expound on this question, but for now I would just say that you need to lack something before you can really value and be thankful for it to the fullest.
This has been the third day meditating on thankfulness.
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