Giving thanks
A few people wrote me, expressing how they liked the idea in the previous blog of giving thanks and saying farewell to the house being sold.
This brought about a new question. “So what should we do when we are moving into a new house?” My suggestion would be to keep the same attitude. Be thankful to the new house that takes us in and promise to take good care of it.
During our years of adolescence, in school and at home, we were taught to love, respect and be thankful to people in our lives. This should be taken further, to include learning to be thankful and appreciative to all things in our lives—the house we live in, the table we use, the chair we sit on, the clothes we wear, the food we eat and even the paper napkin we use and throw away. If we have this attitude, we will naturally love and care for all animals and all living plants whether they are in the house, yard or garden. With this attitude and mind set, we will naturally respect, and love all people in our lives and have compassion to all sentient and non-sentient beings in the world. Maybe schools and parents should teach this to their children early in life. A good start would be to appreciate their toys.
Bertha on
When we think of being thankful to people in our lives, we always think about all the people that has been a positive influence in us, or people we love and love us in return. We never think about being thankful to the ones who hurt us or had a really destructive presence in our lives. Through the years I have come to learn that being able to thank those “bad” people or situations is what really gives the meaning to the act of giving thanks. And is what in return, liberates us; placing us in a position of joy and openness to what’s good in life for us.
I know it sounds old and may be considered as wishful thinking; but the mere act of sitting down and silently thanking those who hurt us, for what they did to us made us grow and learn, is the key that opens the door to inner healing and liberation from resentment.
So, maybe next time you thank for the good in your life, just be thankful for the bad as well and just let it go away.