"Being Thankful"

It was the weirdest thing, here I was this afternoon, walking in the parking lot of my local Walmart when I was struck by a profound sense of thankfulness. It almost stopped me in my tracks. This is not a good thing to do when one is walking in a parking lot, as they may find themselves being turned into a hood ornament...........rapidly.

I have to say that I have been riding a rather good wave lately. I just had a birthday and at 51, I am in better shape and feel more healthy and feminine than I have in many years. I have much to be thankful for. Good health, a wonderful companion in my husband, 2 beautiful daughters who are successful and centered in their lives, and 2 awesome dogs to share the couch with. I have connected with old friends, met new ones, and through these reunions, I have found my way back to a past life that I did not know existed. With the help of my new old friends I am re learning skills that I developed ago. I could go on, but this is deliciously redundant, in a good way.

But there is another side to all of this. The world is seriously running a mock. Just today, there was another mass shooting in a school. There are people who are maiming and destroying mankind in the most hideous of ways. There are people who are loosing their loved ones to disease and divorce. Children are growing up learning spite and hatred and are following a sure path of destruction. For anyone who is aware to any extent about the Mayan prophesies, it makes one take pause because it would seem that the world is indeed about to cease, to implode on Herself. How much more can this earth and Her children really take? This is scary stuff.

I find myself feeling guilty because in the light of all of this ugly, how can I even begin to feel thankful. Yet, I do. But, I have a theory.

For quite a while now, I have had the personal belief that there is a black and white, a yin and yang in life. I also personally believe that if this balance isn't maintained, we, as a people will suffer. Some, like me and my clan of friends, feel these shifts and imbalances. I think many in the world feel this , not all are comfortable enough to acknowledge it, but make no mistake, they feel it.

There is joy and pain, there is happiness and sadness, there is fortune and there is poverty. As you read these words, there are certain thoughts that will come to mind, depending on your point of reference. To me joy is freedom from stereotype and boundaries, pain is having to live by someone else's definition of who I should be just to fit in or save a relationship. Happiness is complete comfort in your own skin, sadness is looking in the mirror and wondering what the hell happened. Fortune, to some its accumulating financial independence. To me, it's family and friends, comfort in my tribe, comfort of having what I need, not necessarily what I want. Poverty would be living an extreme life that is devoid of any joy, happiness, or true fortune. What does all this mean to you. It would service your soul for the good to ask and answer these questions.

It is truly hard to find joy and thankfulness after hearing what happened today at that school. Mass shooting and killing, it rips the soul apart. I don't want to even turn on my television in the morning any more. But, this is my plea to you. Acknowledge these tragedies, feel the pain with all your heart and say a silent prayer to your higher power for peace and love. Cry and mourn. But then, turn your self around and stand tall, face all this misery and ugly hatred, and look it square in the eye. Vow that your heart, mind, and soul will not give energy to this black hole in life. Vow to be better because of it, to be more compassionate, to be more loving. Vow that every morning you will wake up and be thankful for all that you have, for the new day, for the people in it, for the opportunities that are set before you. In doing so, we will balance out the ugly and painful, maybe even over power it, weaken it.

Without it there is no reference. Being thankful would have no meaning without the dark side to remind us to look at the blessings that we have before us. This balance is as old as ancient times. But some of what is happening today does not serve to balance us, it intends to destroy us if we let it. We have to take the good with the bad, but we do not have to take the truly evil at all.

I once read that we are all connected by threads of energy. What type of energy surging through these connections are all up to each one of us. If we all make a conscious decision to send only the positive, if we let our light shine brighter, and our tribe and our brother's tribes do the same, love and joy will always prevail, then we can be truly thankful.