Since we are in the season of
giving thanks, I am reminded how in my twenties when my then-husband and I
joined our friends one year for the Thanksgiving feast. Each of us provided a dish and we set up the
long table in our friend’s living room and began the usual process of gorging
on the ubiquitous amount of food, wine and good cheer. Our merriment was obviated by the laughter
that we all shared, when it donned on me that this annual holiday, wasn’t just
about getting a day off. It wasn’t just
about having football in the background—and it wasn’t about stuffing our faces
with everything in sight until we got sick.
I circumnavigated the table with
my eyes and I looked upon every single person I was sharing space with when I
realized that there was a reason why they call this holiday “Thanks”
“Giving”. It was about giving thanks for
everything we are grateful for. Our
forefathers had endured great hardship, but with the help of their Native
American brethren, they made it through their rough patch. In celebration of their triumph, they held a
great feast.
I decided it was time to take
action. I tapped the glass with my silverware asking for the other
participants’ attention and reminded each of them about the true meaning of the
holiday. I asked if they would indulge
me by going around the table and sharing what in the last year each of them was
thankful for. I listened intently to
every person’s response. Some were
impressed with new toys they had acquired.
Some were elated for new marriages.
But, all of us were grateful for the friendship that we shared, as well
as the abundance of food that we had prepared together. The following year, I took this gratitude
exercise and brought it to my own family’s table. It has since become a tradition that I look
forward to every year.
I have learned over the years
that even when I am preparing a simple meal, I express my thanks to each of the
individual ingredients for allowing their presence to nourish me. I celebrate all the colors of the rainbow
that each item offers and I notice how the colors I am eating reflect the colors of the various chakras in my energetic being: the reds of the
strawberries match my first chakra, the orange from the juice correlates to the 2nd, the yellow of the zucchini are aligned with the third, the green
from the lettuce. 4th, the blue from the blueberries, the fifth, the purple from the eggplant
the sixth/seventh and also all the beiges from oatmeal, whole wheat bread and mushrooms that
represent Mother Earth as she shares her bounty with me. And every year on the third Thursday in
November, I acknowledge the gift of the turkey.
Its symbolism, especially for the American iconography, represents the
bounty, the abundance that every person on the planet is entitled to.
We are all part of the Divine
Force and I offer my gratitude to you all for listening to my story.
...and let me say that I thank YOU for reading my
article today.
Namaste! (The Light in me recognizes the Light in
you!)
