This year, Thanksgiving comes at a time when some of us are pressed financially. The stock market has been nearly halved since it peaked in the low 14000's last year. Huge financial corporations are faltering and the government is taxing us to bail them out. It seems untimely that Thanksgiving should come at a time when so much is amiss.
But that's the true beauty of the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving. It comes unconditionally, whether times are good or times are bad. Thanksgiving Day reminds us that we should be unconditional in our own thankfulness. When times are good, we should rejoice and be thankful. When times are not so good, we should DOUBLE the rejoicing and thankfulness.
Thanksgiving never used to be a big holiday for me. It was just a day off school or work (sometimes not even work, since the military weather forecasting hub where I worked never sleeps). Certainly I was aware of the historical irony of the holiday, considering my ancestors actually murdered the native Americans to whom they were allegedly giving thanks. Thanksgiving only gained value to me when I learned about the power of Unconditional Thanksgiving.
Unconditional Thanksgiving was one of those lessons which life was very insistent that I learn. At the time, I was trapped in the U.S. Air Force and I was miserable, absolutely miserable. I felt that I had made a great mistake by joining the military instead of going to university. I tried to get out by every means I could, but I couldn't get out. Life was holding me there until I learned my lesson. Life does that, you know. It holds you in a situation until you learn the lesson you need to learn.
Eventually, I learned to open my heart to gratitude even though I didn't like my situation. I learned to be Unconditionally Thankful. Once I learned that lesson, suddenly everything fell into place, I escaped the Air Force easily, when Congress resolved that the Air Force was overmanned and had to take volunteers to leave.
One of my favorite books is The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien's prelude to The Lord Of The Rings. The Silmarillion is an unambiguous tragedy; of the many many main characters in the story, practically all of them die. And yet, one of the underlying themes of the Silmarillion is that the world is intrinsically good, that even amidst the most horrible tragedy there is beauty. In the opening verses, describing the mythical creation of the world, the rebellious god Melkor creates horrible heats and horrible colds, but the true god Iluvator reveals how even those horrors enhance the world, making possible things like rain and mist and snowflakes. The rebellious god strives to mar the works of the true gods, yet for all his effort he can only ultimately make them even more profoundly good.
In video games, the player usually battles some enemy. In a novel, there's usually an antagonist making life hard for the protagonist, or at least some kind of dilemma or obstacle. Take away the enemy from the video game, take away the dilemma from the novel, and what you're left with is a video game or a novel which is pretty boring and bland. The bad things enhance the good. It's the same way in life, which is really a lot like a big game itself.
One author who really emphasizes Unconditional Thanksgiving is Merlin Carothers, a former soldier who became a Christian pastor and prolific writer. In his book Prison to Praise
, and many other books, Merlin writes about how we should give thanks for everything in life, even things which are unambiguously bad. Your house burned down? Your family died in a car accident? Merlin Carothers says: give thanks for these things! This might seem like a rather extreme position, but it actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it. In such horrible situations, what can you do? You can be miserable and do nothing about the situation, or you can be less miserable and do nothing about the situation. May as well choose the less miserable path. Also, you escape the drag which I call Pity Momentum...
PITY MOMENTUM
When we're miserable enough, we can actually get used to being miserable and having pity on ourselves. We can actually get comfortable in our misery. And it's human nature to fear change, even when the change would make us less miserable. So, when we get used to being miserable, at some deep level we actually want to be remain miserable. It's what we know.
I call this "Pity Momentum", and what it does is it blinds us to the hidden blessings in life. When tragedy comes laced with hidden blessings, Pity Momentum makes us close our eyes to the blessing, lest we be lifted from the comfort complacence of our misery.
We can fight Pity Momentum by refusing to have pity on ourselves. As Merlin Carothers says, be grateful no matter what.
THE UNIVERSE AS A GIVER
Think of the Universe as a parent giving you presents for your birthday. The universe thinks you want something, say, you want to be a millionaire. As the universe swings slowly toward giving you what you want, you begin receiving smaller "pre-gifts" which signal the coming flood of gifts. For example, you want to be a millionaire, and you find a penny on the street. That penny is a gift, and the universe will pay attention to how we react. Do we react with gratitude, or do we scoff at the gift?
Scoff at the gift, and the universe will be confused. It will think, "Oh, I guess you don't want to be a millionaire after all..."
Let's be grateful for blessings unconditionally, whether our blessings are big are small.
THANKSGIVING RESOLUTIONS
We all know about New Years Resolutions. This year, I'm creating a new one, Thanksgiving Resolutions. Let us resolve that throughout the coming year, we shall be unconditionally grateful for everything in our lives, big blessings, small blessings, even negative anti-blessings.
If you want to be a millionaire, be grateful for every penny you find on the street. If you have debt, be grateful for the debt. Great businessmen have arisen from the ashes of bankruptcy.
If you want better relationships, be grateful for every smile from a stranger. If you have enemies, be grateful for your enemies. Certainly they make life more interesting!
If you want better health, be grateful for every breath of air you take. Even if you suffer illness, be grateful for the illness. Often ilnesses are just symptoms which lets us know we need to change something in our lives.
CONCLUSION
Thanksgiving Day comes whether the market is a Bull Market or a Bear Market. Let's be unconditionally grateful, and uplift our hearts with Thanksgiving, whether our lives are Bull Lives or Bear Lives.
(This article is based on a speech I gave last night at Toastmasters International)
Here are some articles I wrote, you can give thanks to me for writing these.
Would You Worsen The World For A Billion Dollars?
Never Cover Your Ass
License To Change
The Solution To The Money Game
The Joys Of Change
But that's the true beauty of the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving. It comes unconditionally, whether times are good or times are bad. Thanksgiving Day reminds us that we should be unconditional in our own thankfulness. When times are good, we should rejoice and be thankful. When times are not so good, we should DOUBLE the rejoicing and thankfulness.
Thanksgiving never used to be a big holiday for me. It was just a day off school or work (sometimes not even work, since the military weather forecasting hub where I worked never sleeps). Certainly I was aware of the historical irony of the holiday, considering my ancestors actually murdered the native Americans to whom they were allegedly giving thanks. Thanksgiving only gained value to me when I learned about the power of Unconditional Thanksgiving.
Unconditional Thanksgiving was one of those lessons which life was very insistent that I learn. At the time, I was trapped in the U.S. Air Force and I was miserable, absolutely miserable. I felt that I had made a great mistake by joining the military instead of going to university. I tried to get out by every means I could, but I couldn't get out. Life was holding me there until I learned my lesson. Life does that, you know. It holds you in a situation until you learn the lesson you need to learn.
Eventually, I learned to open my heart to gratitude even though I didn't like my situation. I learned to be Unconditionally Thankful. Once I learned that lesson, suddenly everything fell into place, I escaped the Air Force easily, when Congress resolved that the Air Force was overmanned and had to take volunteers to leave.
One of my favorite books is The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien's prelude to The Lord Of The Rings. The Silmarillion is an unambiguous tragedy; of the many many main characters in the story, practically all of them die. And yet, one of the underlying themes of the Silmarillion is that the world is intrinsically good, that even amidst the most horrible tragedy there is beauty. In the opening verses, describing the mythical creation of the world, the rebellious god Melkor creates horrible heats and horrible colds, but the true god Iluvator reveals how even those horrors enhance the world, making possible things like rain and mist and snowflakes. The rebellious god strives to mar the works of the true gods, yet for all his effort he can only ultimately make them even more profoundly good.
In video games, the player usually battles some enemy. In a novel, there's usually an antagonist making life hard for the protagonist, or at least some kind of dilemma or obstacle. Take away the enemy from the video game, take away the dilemma from the novel, and what you're left with is a video game or a novel which is pretty boring and bland. The bad things enhance the good. It's the same way in life, which is really a lot like a big game itself.
One author who really emphasizes Unconditional Thanksgiving is Merlin Carothers, a former soldier who became a Christian pastor and prolific writer. In his book Prison to Praise
, and many other books, Merlin writes about how we should give thanks for everything in life, even things which are unambiguously bad. Your house burned down? Your family died in a car accident? Merlin Carothers says: give thanks for these things! This might seem like a rather extreme position, but it actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it. In such horrible situations, what can you do? You can be miserable and do nothing about the situation, or you can be less miserable and do nothing about the situation. May as well choose the less miserable path. Also, you escape the drag which I call Pity Momentum...PITY MOMENTUM
When we're miserable enough, we can actually get used to being miserable and having pity on ourselves. We can actually get comfortable in our misery. And it's human nature to fear change, even when the change would make us less miserable. So, when we get used to being miserable, at some deep level we actually want to be remain miserable. It's what we know.
I call this "Pity Momentum", and what it does is it blinds us to the hidden blessings in life. When tragedy comes laced with hidden blessings, Pity Momentum makes us close our eyes to the blessing, lest we be lifted from the comfort complacence of our misery.
We can fight Pity Momentum by refusing to have pity on ourselves. As Merlin Carothers says, be grateful no matter what.
THE UNIVERSE AS A GIVER
Think of the Universe as a parent giving you presents for your birthday. The universe thinks you want something, say, you want to be a millionaire. As the universe swings slowly toward giving you what you want, you begin receiving smaller "pre-gifts" which signal the coming flood of gifts. For example, you want to be a millionaire, and you find a penny on the street. That penny is a gift, and the universe will pay attention to how we react. Do we react with gratitude, or do we scoff at the gift?
Scoff at the gift, and the universe will be confused. It will think, "Oh, I guess you don't want to be a millionaire after all..."
Let's be grateful for blessings unconditionally, whether our blessings are big are small.
THANKSGIVING RESOLUTIONS
We all know about New Years Resolutions. This year, I'm creating a new one, Thanksgiving Resolutions. Let us resolve that throughout the coming year, we shall be unconditionally grateful for everything in our lives, big blessings, small blessings, even negative anti-blessings.
If you want to be a millionaire, be grateful for every penny you find on the street. If you have debt, be grateful for the debt. Great businessmen have arisen from the ashes of bankruptcy.
If you want better relationships, be grateful for every smile from a stranger. If you have enemies, be grateful for your enemies. Certainly they make life more interesting!
If you want better health, be grateful for every breath of air you take. Even if you suffer illness, be grateful for the illness. Often ilnesses are just symptoms which lets us know we need to change something in our lives.
CONCLUSION
Thanksgiving Day comes whether the market is a Bull Market or a Bear Market. Let's be unconditionally grateful, and uplift our hearts with Thanksgiving, whether our lives are Bull Lives or Bear Lives.
(This article is based on a speech I gave last night at Toastmasters International)
Here are some articles I wrote, you can give thanks to me for writing these.
Would You Worsen The World For A Billion Dollars?
Never Cover Your Ass
License To Change
The Solution To The Money Game
The Joys Of Change
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