Thanksgiving: I'll Take a Side Dish of Forgiveness, Please

I'll have 'thankful' with a side dish of 'forgiveness', please."
When I was growing up, we had one Thanksgiving family tradition. Before eating dinner, we would go around the table and say one thing we were thankful for. I will be the first to say that I never took this tradition seriously. I was young- I just wanted to eat! As I've begun to think about Thanksgiving (a day before- typical me) I've begun to think about it's importance to me. 

It’s so easy to say that you’re thankful for something, but there’s a difference between acknowledging that you have something and truly being grateful for it.

When you’re grateful that you have something, you show it through your actions on a daily basis. One thing a close friend indirectly called to my attention the other week was that being thankful is the art of loving and forgiving. When you're thankful for others in your life or for life itself, you're forgiving of mistakes and faults. You recognize that their value means so much more and that it takes emotion in order to harbor negative feelings.

When you're thankful for others in your life or for life itself, you're forgiving of mistakes and faults. You recognize that their value means so much more and that it takes emotion in order to harbor negative feelings.

Being forgiving also releases you. There are situations in which the only thing you can do is step back and personally decide how you're going to react. These are the situations that teach us the most- the situations that help us to grow. By forgiving someone or something, the situation no longer has power over you. You are in control of your emotions; You are choosing to be happy.

Supportive friends, a caring family, a new day of life, a job promotion, the fact that we can receive an education; If we are truly thankful for any of these things, why wouldn't we want to take the steps it takes to let go of negative feelings towards any of them? Forgiveness is a process. Even if you can’t bring yourself to forgive somebody instantly, do it anyway and keep at it.

I’m thankful for my supportive friends, for my caring family, for a new day of life, for an amazing job opportunity, for the fact that I can be as educated as I want to be. I’m thankful for the fact that I have an opportunity to influence others. I’m thankful for the two children I nanny. Because I’m thankful for all of these things, I’m going to choose to forgive and not harbor any negative feelings towards any of them- even if one of the children I nanny gets mud all over the back seat of my new car. I’m grateful that he’s a part of my life and that I get to be an influence in his life. I choose to forgive the situation and not be upset.

My Favorite Responses:

"Good friends, beautiful country, music, being alive, being able to breath, freedom of thought, for my parents for raising me the way they have, opportunities, no exams, good health, coffee, that I didn't have one bad thought today."

What are you thankful for? Are there people in your life that you need to forgive?

Do you think being thankful and forgiveness go hand in hand?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ciao,
M

PS: I've recently forgiven a family member for a situation that happened a while ago. It was tough being the “bigger person” in the relationship, but I did it because I’m thankful that I have the family that I have.