A Content and Serene Thanksgiving to you all

Happy Thanksgiving.

On this day of Thanksgiving, I am aware of how quickly and easily I am prone to losing the moment, this moment, given to me. As a creature of habit, I can become blind to the thoughts, feelings, and actions I experience from moment to moment. To be grateful for what I have, I need to be aware and mindful of what I have. Too often, I am not. Too often, I am lost in thoughts of regret, traveling back in time. Or I become caught up in fears of failure, of poor outcomes, traveling into the future.

Time travel is neither helpful nor possible. Mindfulness is about eliminating the mind’s effort at time travel—an effort based on measuring, quantifying, and qualifying my experiences. I do this measuring, quantifying, and qualifying because I am comparing myself to others. I do this because it has become a habit of which I am unaware. Developing a practice of Mindfulness is an act of stopping my mind’s effort at time travel.

In my morning routine, I do what I call Mindful Meditation Journaling. I don’t concern myself with the content so much as focusing on the moment – being mindful of my body, thoughts, and senses. I often fall back on the mantra “Breathe, write, and sip coffee.” Yes, coffee is most definitely a part of my morning routine. The focus is on the moment, not on its quality or quantity. When pausing my writing, I am mindful of reaching for the mug, how it feels when I grasp the handle, the sight of the broken light reflecting off the coffee’s surface, and the heat as it flows over my lips and tongue. While writing, I focus on the flow of the pen on the paper while also returning time and again to my breath. However, the urge to quantify is strong. I want to judge the quality of my experience as I “Breathe, write, and sip coffee.” This judgment occurs elsewhere. I want to define my life as going well or going poorly. My physical condition is healthy or unhealthy. Yet, life is neither good nor bad, poor or well, healthy or unhealthy. It is measuring to compare that makes it so.

Awareness becomes more profound, and Mindfulness becomes fuller when focusing on this moment. Comparison takes one away from the moment. When I look at another and compare myself to them, I transport my mind’s focus to the past. A person in the moment is an expression of their life process. So, to compare is to pit myself against their life experience and ignore my own. Comparing myself to others is ignoring Existence’s will for me.

My path, as has all people’s, has resulted from Existence’s Grace. I would have walked their path if Existence meant for me to be them. I did not. Rejecting myself because I have found myself wanting is rejecting the Grace of Existence afforded me through my life path. Had Existence wanted me any other way than I am at this moment, It is powerful enough to make me another way. The paths I walked would not have been an option.

I am also aware that being given choices does not give me control over the outcomes. I did not construct the paths given to me. I did not build the consequences awaiting the end of the paths I walked and the ones I will walk. Once I accept that which is my power and that I am powerless over, I reduce, possibly eliminate, suffering. Acceptance has always been the answer. I had failed to see where my power lay and where it did not exist. I still struggle with this concept.

On this Thanksgiving Day, I am grateful for the awareness I have generated through my practice of Mindfulness. Awareness of my friends, family, and the people in my life without judgment allows me to be content and serene. I am free from suffering during this moment. I hope you can embrace friends, family, and all those in your lives without judgment and experience contentment and serenity.