Is Thanksgiving a Spiritual Holiday?
Gratitude for things greater than ourselves
Have you ever thought of Thanksgiving as a spiritual holiday?
To be completely honest, I hadn’t until this morning. Like many in the United States, I think of Thanksgiving based on the Pilgrims and Indians coming together for a feast meant to give thanks for the harvest. The historic story evolved into a time to gather together with family and friends, around the table, and show gratitude for who and what we have.
We all have our definitions and practices of spirituality. In general, descriptions you may find are that spirituality is an opening of the heart. The qualities of concern for the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things. Perhaps, that is why many people practice daily gratitude during the month of November.
Back in September, I wrote, “When Mindfulness Becomes a Spiritual Awakening.” In that piece, I brought up two defining things for myself. I spoke of Spiritual Intelligence and my own creative spiritual path linked to the Wizard of Oz. Staying young-in-heart and the magic lies in the history, the evolution of people, and their stories.
Sometimes, my higher power is technology-based and takes me down the rabbit hole of the internet to lead me to stories I didn’t know I…
