Fred Cavaiani
In two days, we celebrate Thanksgiving. Throughout our country we are reminded to be grateful for so many things. We become challenged to focus on being thankful for so many people: relatives, spouses, children, parents, grandparents, friends, new friends and everyone we meet who treat us with love and kindness. We have gratefulness for what we possess. We realize that there can be a God who will always love us and help us. We become filled with gratitude about experiencing life. We become so inspired by what we see and hear. We become filled with appreciation for all the goodness that has happened to us in life. In fact, we began to realize that there have been many good and positive things that has happened to us in life and that we know of so many good and kind people that have positively influenced us throughout our life.
Thanksgiving becomes a time to realize the positive, personal, psychological and spiritual influence upon us when we become consciously grateful. Thanksgiving Day is like a day of meditating on gratitude. It becomes a time when we look upon life and people with an attitude of gratitude. And we hear the words “Happy Thanksgiving” or “I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving” so often. Gratefulness seems to be all around us this last week of November.
When we embrace gratitude, we smile. And then we smile at people. We look for goodness in everything and everyone. Emotionally our hearts become loving and warm. We begin to realize how important it is for us to be grateful and how anger, resentments and judgments of other people put us into an emotional prison and take away our experience of gratitude. Angry and critical attitudes are never helpful to us emotionally or spiritually.
I become very grateful around the Thanksgiving season because it is the prelude to the Holiday Season of positive spirituality for everyone. Spirituality becomes experienced on a deeper level when we are grateful, when we give gifts to others, when we get together as families and friends. This happens from Thanksgiving to the end of December when we celebrate so many spiritual days depending on what our religious or spiritual background might be. The two things everyone has no matter what faith or religion we might practice or not practice is gratitude and love. Gratitude and love open our hearts and minds to something very profound and uplifting. When someone smiles at me and speaks kindly, I feel uplifted. I feel loved and grateful.
At the loving apartment complex where I live, we had a tree decorating get-together with coffee and cookies. As I gathered with these kind and loving people, I felt such warmth and kindness. Then some of them started telling me about the warmth and kindness of my favorite restaurant where they also like to have brunch, The Brunch Bar. It became a time for all of us at this gathering to be caring, kind and grateful. What a positive experience of emotional love and spirituality. It was like a gathering of thankfulness as we looked at each with warmth and gratitude. The more I show kindness to other people, the more I fill them with gratitude. When someone is kind and loving toward me, I feel so grateful.
When love and gratitude are present, I am able to embrace my emotional wounds in an open manner and not run from myself. I began to see more clearly the wisdom of embracing the moment and never running away from what I need to feel. Life is meant to be lived with gratefulness, love, openness, humility and honesty. When this happens, I become more grateful and I experience the importance of always being loving toward everyone. Thanksgiving and an attitude of gratitude will give me an experience of love and an experience of God. Inner freedom can then embrace me and I become healthier emotionally and spiritually. Love and gratitude will always make me a better person and my corner of the world a better place. For this next month, I will invest in a deeper experience of being thankful and a deeper attitude of gratitude.
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Fred Cavaiani is a licensed marriage counselor and psychologist with a private practice in Troy. He is the founder of Marriage Growth Center, a consultant for the Detroit Medical Center, and conducts numerous programs for groups throughout Southeast Michigan.
Thanksgiving becomes a time to realize the positive, personal, psychological and spiritual influence upon us when we become consciously grateful. Thanksgiving Day is like a day of meditating on gratitude. It becomes a time when we look upon life and people with an attitude of gratitude. And we hear the words “Happy Thanksgiving” or “I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving” so often. Gratefulness seems to be all around us this last week of November.
When we embrace gratitude, we smile. And then we smile at people. We look for goodness in everything and everyone. Emotionally our hearts become loving and warm. We begin to realize how important it is for us to be grateful and how anger, resentments and judgments of other people put us into an emotional prison and take away our experience of gratitude. Angry and critical attitudes are never helpful to us emotionally or spiritually.
I become very grateful around the Thanksgiving season because it is the prelude to the Holiday Season of positive spirituality for everyone. Spirituality becomes experienced on a deeper level when we are grateful, when we give gifts to others, when we get together as families and friends. This happens from Thanksgiving to the end of December when we celebrate so many spiritual days depending on what our religious or spiritual background might be. The two things everyone has no matter what faith or religion we might practice or not practice is gratitude and love. Gratitude and love open our hearts and minds to something very profound and uplifting. When someone smiles at me and speaks kindly, I feel uplifted. I feel loved and grateful.
At the loving apartment complex where I live, we had a tree decorating get-together with coffee and cookies. As I gathered with these kind and loving people, I felt such warmth and kindness. Then some of them started telling me about the warmth and kindness of my favorite restaurant where they also like to have brunch, The Brunch Bar. It became a time for all of us at this gathering to be caring, kind and grateful. What a positive experience of emotional love and spirituality. It was like a gathering of thankfulness as we looked at each with warmth and gratitude. The more I show kindness to other people, the more I fill them with gratitude. When someone is kind and loving toward me, I feel so grateful.
When love and gratitude are present, I am able to embrace my emotional wounds in an open manner and not run from myself. I began to see more clearly the wisdom of embracing the moment and never running away from what I need to feel. Life is meant to be lived with gratefulness, love, openness, humility and honesty. When this happens, I become more grateful and I experience the importance of always being loving toward everyone. Thanksgiving and an attitude of gratitude will give me an experience of love and an experience of God. Inner freedom can then embrace me and I become healthier emotionally and spiritually. Love and gratitude will always make me a better person and my corner of the world a better place. For this next month, I will invest in a deeper experience of being thankful and a deeper attitude of gratitude.
—————
Fred Cavaiani is a licensed marriage counselor and psychologist with a private practice in Troy. He is the founder of Marriage Growth Center, a consultant for the Detroit Medical Center, and conducts numerous programs for groups throughout Southeast Michigan.
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