THANKSGIVING DINNER AS A LESSON IN REMAINING CALM
Points for love and survival
As we celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family, I want to share some spiritual insights that might make your holiday more pleasant. Even miraculous, actually…
The holiday this year is landing at an emotionally fraught moment. Many of us apprehensive about spending time with people who have different views than our own now, and that’s a very good possibility this Thanksgiving. But that’s where the lessons come in! Emotionally it’s as though we've become the Disunited States and it’s up to each of us to address that. All of us can help reweave the fabric of our national discourse, and this holiday a perfect time to do it.
Here are some miracle-minded principles that will make it whole lot easier…
10 Spiritual Insights for Thanksgiving Dinner:
1) Wherever you’re going for dinner, blast the room with love before you walk in.
2) Take a moment before you do, to be conscious of judgements you hold toward anyone you know might be there. Willingly surrender those judgements to God.
Uncle Bob will insist on wearing his Trump T-shirt. Cousin Lola will be proudly sporting her keffiyeh. Aunt Jordie will say she hasn’t stopped crying since the night of Nov. 5. Anything that could trigger you might happen. But any judgmental thought you have toward anyone at the dinner will have a negative effect on the energy in the room, while every positive thought will be ameliorative.
3) During dinner, be the best listener you’ve ever been in your life.
4) See people as people first, mouthpieces for their political views second. Silently bless people whether you agree with them or not.
5) Remember Martin Luther King, Jr. words: "You have very little morally persuasive power with people who can feel your underlying contempt.” If people can feel your disrespect for their political views, you will have zero power at opening their minds to another way of looking at things.
6) Remember that drinking alcohol will probably decrease your ability to do any of this. Be careful.
7) If politics comes up, express yourself with facts and not attitude! Appreciate that everyone voted from their own deep-seated belief about what is right for the country. No one has a monopoly on truth, and most people have more wisdom to share than we might think.
8) In A Course in Miracles it says that if we’re judging someone, we’re wrong even if we’re right. We think we’re going to understand someone to see whether or not they’re worthy of our love, but until we love them we will never understand them.
9. Seek to be a vessel of love at the table more than anything else. Speak your truth without withholding respect for the truths of others.
10. Be nice to people. It makes all the difference.
None of those things are difficult so much as they’re just different. Most significantly, they’re a recipe for a lovely dinner. More than the food, more than the drink, more than the location, more than the company - your own ability to open your heart is what will make the dinner a special event.
To you, my thanks this Thanksgiving holiday.
I respect and honor our connection. May you and your family be blessed.
Please remember individuals that will be spending this day alone, eating alone what ever they prorate for themselves. Those that have been excluded because they me be friends or neighbors but not family. Those that are divorced, widowed, separated from loved ones for any reason. It's time to be more inclusive of the uncoupled in holiday celebrations.
Dear beloved Marianne✨ so appreciate and love you. I so welcomed reading the Thanksgiving Dinner practical spiritual lesson. As always your words have a miraculous way of nurturing our souls and hearts. I, too “respect and honor our connection.” May you and your loved ones be blessed now and all days ahead🙏