It’s the beginning of Thanksgiving week. Actually, it seems like November has become Thanksgiving month, with many choosing to focus on things they are grateful for all month. It’s a sweet tradition that helps those that participate in it feel gratitude for the blessings in their lives. It’s always good to stop, look around, and take a moment to focus on the good that is in our lives. But what about those that are deeply hurting, lonely, grieving, depressed or in need this Thanksgiving? What about those who can’t feel better right now, no matter what they do? What about when gratitude isn’t enough?
It was a revelation to me (several years ago) when I realized I could feel more than one thing at a time. I really like what you wrote. As a person currently in the deepest part of grief I can honestly say that I still find myself in the kitchen singing and dancing as well as being huddled in my bed sobbing. Both are my truth. Both are real. And accepting both helps me heal. Thanks for your excellent post.
Holidays are arbitrary days when something is celebrated. Life, and the complications of dual feelings occur everyday. And it’s a part-time job, at least, to look inward and make some sense of the cascade of feelings we all carry by the hour. There’s no right or wrong to any of it: especially grief. Besides the obvious shock and emptiness of loss there is also a soulful introspection and awareness in grief that “every show closes”, and that all of us will die and leave this Earth. Maybe that’s when honest gratitude should kick in. Maybe that’s when we truly realize that “the present moment” is the greatest teacher of all.
It was a revelation to me (several years ago) when I realized I could feel more than one thing at a time. I really like what you wrote. As a person currently in the deepest part of grief I can honestly say that I still find myself in the kitchen singing and dancing as well as being huddled in my bed sobbing. Both are my truth. Both are real. And accepting both helps me heal. Thanks for your excellent post.
Holidays are arbitrary days when something is celebrated. Life, and the complications of dual feelings occur everyday. And it’s a part-time job, at least, to look inward and make some sense of the cascade of feelings we all carry by the hour. There’s no right or wrong to any of it: especially grief. Besides the obvious shock and emptiness of loss there is also a soulful introspection and awareness in grief that “every show closes”, and that all of us will die and leave this Earth. Maybe that’s when honest gratitude should kick in. Maybe that’s when we truly realize that “the present moment” is the greatest teacher of all.