Thanksgiving Meditation

Sitting in the warm golden sunshine glow of early morning, eyes closed, mind still, body warm and relaxed, consciousness streaming silently, radiating outwards into the cosmos… aware only of being, not as an individual entity with a complex of unique feelings-thoughts-wishes-needs, but far more simply, just being… just being… as all living things are… just humming along as a tiny warm dot on a blue-marble planet spinning around our big yellow star…

Humming along, one tiny note in the orchestrated symphony…

But wait… what is this? What sound, what feeling? The ears of heart strain to listen…

Oh warm buttery sun feeling! What is it?!

It must be… it sounds like… a great humming of contentment! Joy! Warmth! Good friends and happy family… smiles joining this one to that one to that one…

The greatest song of all… the feeling of everyone connected to everyone else by golden strings of acceptance, care, compassion… from finger to finger, from heart to heart…

In this day, in this morning, this feeling of togetherness replaces all feelings of apartness. This feeling of joy outweighs any feelings of sadness, worry, or pain. This feeling of loving kindness sings more persuasively than selfishness and cruelty. All around this earth, the children are feeding each other, giving to each other, smiling at each other. No one is going without on this golden day. No one is starving or hungering for anything. All needs are being met. No one is keeping only for himself on this grand shining day. Everyone is giving all that they have and sharing all that they have. For all are deep in the knowledge that we are all connected. Everyone is smiling, laughing, singing, dancing in the plentitude of today…

This tremendous feeling of ONENESS and pure simple JOY washes the earth and all her inhabitants clean!

Has Bayou Child suddenly seen something wonderful of the future? Or is she drunk on the warming morning sun?? Or is this the collective feeling radiating from all the humble homes along the bayous on this Thanksgiving Day?

Whatever it is, it is a POWERFUL feeling of love and beauty...

In the past, Bayou Child may have discounted the importance of holidays because in our country, the USA, the holidays are so overly commercialized that one tends to forget or overlook their true gift. But if one can get beyond the commercialization, perhaps there is something there for us to attend to... Maybe we need holidays (Holy Days) to remind us of what we could be each and every day if we were to choose—to reach upward—to enliven our hearts with the real stuff of life during each moment. Not just remind us, but actually give us an experience...

For what happens when collectively we all focus on giving to others, loving others, being friends with all others? What powerful energies are released when we unite our positive mental vibrations? When we touch, soul to soul and heart to heart? Perhaps this is something that sometimes happens on the holidays and that could one day become our permanent state!

On Thanksgiving, we remember to feel grateful for all the blessings in our lives. On Christmas we remember to love, to give, and to enjoy. On birthdays and anniversaries, we remember to share our hearts and appreciate special ones. On Independence Day we are happy to live in a country where we are relatively free. During Lent, we remember to be simple and pure. On Easter, we remember the gift of eternal life. These are just some of the holidays that Bayou Child grew up with and is still surrounded by, but all cultures throughout all times have their holy times, their times of celebration, their times to be more than we usually are.

What if we strived each day to be much, much more than we usually are? What if each day, each moment, we were shining as bright as stars in our gratitude, love, giving, enjoying, appreciating, simple living... ? What if each moment with each breath, we were acutely aware of the gifts of life and of our power to share them with each other and with all of life?

Oh warm buttery sun feeling! Contentment! Joy! Warmth! Good friends and happy family… smiles joining this one to that one to that one… around the globe… no one wanting for anything…

Oh great day of Thanks!