Thanksgiving! Embracing the Spirit of Gratitude This is such a precious day that just by the thought of it, it calms our nerves and fills our heart with gratitude for all the good in life. Grateful heart gives no resistance to the natural flow of grace and wonderful blessings. Gratitude is heaven in itself. Thanksgiving is a day to truly feel grateful for all the precious things and people that we all are blessed with. Gratitude is such a divine virtue that no other divine virtue could exist without it.
History of Thanksgiving dates back to 1621, when the pilgrims’ first corn harvest proved victorious. During that time with spirit of gratitude, the governor organized a celebratory feast. Every year, Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the last Thursday of November from 1863 when the prevailing president declared it. This year’s Thanksgiving Day is on November 26.
This annual holiday of Thanksgiving gives us an opportunity to reflect on all the positives in our life and express gratitude for it. Spirit of Thanksgiving is celebrating the harvest and blessings of the previous year with a heart full of gratitude.
Gratitude is a precious quality through which we can grow in every situation. But without gratitude, even in perfectly favorable situations we cannot really progress. Among all graceful behaviors, gratitude is one of the most pleasing qualities and there can be nothing more disgraceful than ingratitude. Without gratitude, we cannot be satisfied. Contentment lives only in the grateful heart. Ungrateful people may have almost everything with them and still they become dissatisfied with only one thing they do not have, and that one thing makes them miserable. On the other hand, grateful people experience the calmness, serenity, peace, and joy because they appreciate what they have without being too much worried about what they do not have.
It is very important to cultivate the quality of gratitude because it is not that we will always get whatever we want. Ungrateful heart is always anxious but grateful heart is calm, balanced and composed and that really helps us to take good decisions in life and perform well from moment to moment.
There are many things that we can always be grateful for. Every moment is an opportunity to offer gratitude to all our loved ones. We should appreciate our health especially during the tough times of COVID-19 pandemic. Due to COVID-19, 2020 may not be the year of growth as much as we wanted at the beginning of the year, but we should be grateful that we are surviving these tough times. We should never waste a crisis. Crisis is a wonderful opportunity to learn new things, inculcate new skills, talents, and abilities. Crisis can also be blessing in disguise if we see it with spirit of gratitude for an opportunity to learn and grow.
We can always have plenty of learning and growing opportunities if we see life with a grateful heart because this gives us clarity of thought. We all can learn a lot through tough times and grow through experiences that comes our way. We should spend more time with our family on this Thanksgiving Day appreciating the blessings we all have. It is also an opportunity to offer our gratitude to all the healthcare workers who are working hard to ensure the good health of the patients. We can be grateful to all the soldiers who are protecting our borders from enemies.
Spirit of Thanksgiving is to appreciate the blessings we have in the present and look forward to future with optimistic consciousness. We can improve the quality of our life with a spirit of gratitude. We should encourage the spirit of gratitude in our children and young people so that they are not overwhelmed by the inevitable challenges and ups and downs that are a part of life. When we are having grateful spirit, we can make a difference in the society by spreading happiness by kind gestures because that is the essence of humanity.
We should all be grateful to the people who are serving us in any little way. That is the spirit of Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving!