I know there is a holiday called Thanksgiving in October in Canada and that that time is ostensibly when we as a collective society are supposed to get together and be thankful for this, that and the other thing...
But Thanksgiving is honestly just another day for me. Partially because as a city girl (AKA notafarmer) celebration of the yearly harvest is such a foreign concept for me. Frankly, my harvest is an all-year-round thing that it hardly needs a special day to celebrate the number of times I went to the supermarket to purchase a bag of apples.
But mostly the reason is that most of my looking back and finding things to be grateful for happens around Christmas, when I gather the list of people I care about and express my gratitude for their friendships or love by way of a gift.
Honestly, what other day of the year can you share your appreciation and joy of association to those around you all at once, even if the all at once part of it is why most of us go broke during this time of year?
Yes, this time of year can be tough on the wallet and often said wallet is being taken advantage on by the monster that is consumerism, but with a mindfulness on who I am spending my money on, I'm often at peace with it. Because for me, the act of giving and showing a strong appreciation for those I care about far outweighs the cost of doing so. And the fact there are people out there worth making such an effort for is precious, especially in a time when the world is increasingly becoming individualized and more about the self than the collective whole.
This attitude is increasingly making people very unhappy as a result. And we're all guilty of contributing to that behaviour.
It's so easy to find something to be ungrateful and unhappy right now. Trust me, as a negative thinker I often become mired in the worst and the fear associated with it all the time.
But it is so much more fulfilling to find something to be appreciative about. It makes for a better life. And it makes for a more balanced you in everything you do.
Sometimes, the happy stuff is small consolation for the scary. But the point is, not everything has to be or is scary. You don't necessarily have to embrace the good (although it is better that you do, sometimes you simply cannot) you do need to accept the existence of good in order to know that it's there and take some comfort in it as best you can.
Be thankful and make your peace with reality.
And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
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