The American Thanksgiving is upon us!  Tomorrow, in fact!  Thanksgiving means that the holidays are coming, and even though it’s “officially” a season of giving and family time, sometimes it can be hard to hold onto and cultivate a sense of abundance.
 
Since I love y’all, in this  newsletter, I’m going to share one of my favorite abundance tools, and three strategies to achieve it…just in time for Thanksgiving! 
 
Many of you in the US will be sitting down with family and friends, and some of you have decided that doing so is not in your best interests, so you’ll be doing your own thing!  Whatever you’re doing, it’s going to be amazing, since I’ve got some fantasmo goodies in here that will exponentially increase your enjoyment of this holiday. :)
 
One of my very favorite tools for helping us see the abundance in our lives is…gratitudes!  And Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity tailor-made for us to acknowledge and give thanks for what is going right in our world.
 
Here are three of my favorite ways to practice gratitude on/near Thanksgiving:

1. O MG, look at all the FOOD! 
I mean, really…most tables are groaning under the weight of turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potato concoctions, wine, bread, stuffing, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, pie pie pie…It’s impossible to look at this bounty without thinking: “How grateful am I to eat this wonderful food…that someone else probably cooked.” :)
 
My mom, a follower of Vietnamese Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, likes to thank the fruits, vegetables, and animals for giving their lives to enrich our own.
 
Let’s face it.  We have a LOT of plenty here in the US.  Let’s appreciate it!
 
So…be grateful for the food, for the farmers who harvested it, for the turkeys that gave their lives, for the people who transported the food to the stores, the gas to the gas stations, the people who cooked it…the list goes on.
 
What are you grateful for when it comes to food? (Note: lots of people have food issues.  Including me!  So let 'em go, just for a day, and let this be a way to see the abundance around you!)
 
And to those of you enjoying a solitary thanksgiving: bake yourself a chicken or tofurkey or whatever food brings you comfort and joy.  And take a moment to be grateful to yourself for taking the time to care for yourself in this way.  Yes, tradition is to be around others for Thanksgiving, but giving thanks and practicing gratitudes on your own is tremendously powerful.

2. OMG, I’m with my family and incredible friends!
Now, with apologies to my beloved family, family time ain’t always easy.  I’ll be the first to acknowledge that!
 
Still, I am grateful for their love, grateful for their support, grateful for their insights into me, grateful to be visiting with my mom in her beautiful home in Upstate NY, grateful to my friend for coming up from NYC to share Thanksgiving with us, grateful to friends here in Woodstock for sharing their table with us…
 
The best thing about staying in this grateful place is that it helps me breathe deeply and get over my knee-jerk irritation when someone says something that pushes my buttons.  (And hey, it’s family, so we all know that’s going to happen!)
 
So…be grateful for being with your family. They tend to know us best…and we know them best too.   Be grateful that they know your dietary restrictions and work around them.  Be grateful that you speak to them and have a connection with them.  Be grateful for this chance to be grateful together.
 
How are you grateful for your family?
 
And to those of you who have concluded that a family Thanksgiving is not for you for whatever reason…be grateful to yourself for choosing exactly what is right for you, for protecting yourself and for practicing radical self-care.  I applaud you!

3. Proclaim your gratitude and get others to share theirs!
Gratitude is a practice, and one way to get started on a continual practice of gratitude is to state it to the world.  One of the best Thanksgivings I’ve ever had was several years age. I had recently started my gratitudes practice, and I asked my family if they’d be willing to share gratitudes about the prior year.  They were, and it was magical on so many levels! It increased my sense of connection and intimacy with them (because once you know what makes someone grateful and happy, you know them on an entirely different level), it increased everyone’s sense of abundance and gratitude, it helped me get clearer on what I’m grateful for, and it helped me truly see that a gratitude practices is transformative.

Bonus: most people like being around other people who focus on the positive, and by encouraging people to share gratitudes, that can be you! :)
 
If this calls to you, here’s a strategy that can work: simply ask whoever’s organizing your Thanksgiving if it would be okay to go around the table at some point in the mealtime and for everyone share something they’re grateful for.  Odds are they’ll be open and grateful for a chance to show…gratitude.  After all, it is Thanksgiving!
 
Let me know how it goes!  And consider…how does hearing other people’s gratitude make you feel?
 
And if you’re enjoying a quiet, solitary Thanksgiving, I encourage you to list your gratitudes…and send them to me so I can bear witness for you.  Because, FYI, hearing other people’s gratitudes increases my own sense of abundance, so send ‘em over!
 
Now, this is just the tippity top of the iceberg for ways to practice abundance during the holidays…make sure you keep an eye out so you can register for “Ways to Feel Abundant During the Holidays.”
 
And I haven’t forgotten I said in my last communique that I’d write an article about abundance relates to Occupy Wall Street, but…I’m having some writers block and some theoretical issues to parse.  Coming soon, I promise!
 
In the meantime, have a lovely and delightful and ABUNDANT Thanksgiving!
 
xoxo
Eryka