The beauty of autumn coloration evokes a visual play of colors; the festive hues of red, orange, gold and yellow, eliciting such responses as passion, love, joy, happiness and cheer. Our eyes absorb the exquisite presence of autumn, her astounding and enchanting beauty.  With each leaf relinquishing her bright colors, the falling of the leaves allows for growth and renewal.  Autumn, in her festivity, is a reminder of harvesting.  It is a time of fruitful gathering in the labor of love.  It is the gathering of her autumn vegetables, and the reunion of family and friends. Traditionally, on the fourth Thursday in November, we celebrate Thanksgiving in an annual tradition.  Most families celebrate this day creating a holiday feast. Thanksgiving, ‘a day of gratitude,’ initially paid homage to the survival of a bitter winter. Although many attribute Thanksgiving to the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1621, the first recorded documentation dates back to 1565.  A ceremony took place on September 8, 1565 in St. Augustine, Florida in recognition for the Spanish settler’s safe arrival to the New World. Today our focus is the communion of friendships, family reunions, and lavish foods.  The festivities nurture the union of family, friends and acquaintances.  Thanksgiving Day is the historical symbolism of gratitude. Gratitude is the magical ingredient that heals us from within.  It can change and transform any experience, whatever its true nature may be, to an astounding event. Gratitude is the veil to happiness.  When uncovered, it adds richness and value to our lives.  To hold every experience in gratitude is manifesting appreciation, revealing and embracing its insights, its profound depth. The transparency allows us to stay in grace, flowing in harmony, captivating the significance rather than controlling its outcome.  Gratitude is awe-inspiring, power shifting, shifting our ego thoughts to the core of our being. Rather than altering an experience, true freedom encompasses relinquishing one’s perceptions as good or bad, positive or negative.  Life only becomes a sacrifice when we assign such attributes as struggling and suffering.  When we embrace life as simply soul lessons, our skewed vision becomes one of clarity.  Insightfully so, we accept and love life in gratitude.  Celebrate every experience in gratitude. Celebrate Thanksgiving Day, the harvest, the festival of life.  Express thanks for all life has offered you! Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~ Melody Beattie Views:]]>