Are You Grateful for Who You Have Become?

The holidays can be a time for reflection, when we take the time to slow ourselves down, even for just a minute, before the rush begins.

Consider for a moment, where we were last year at this time. What our worries centered around. What relationships were most prominent in our lives. The challenges that we may have faced with family and our careers. Yet now, all of these trials and tribulations seem slightly blurred and far less important. We made it through and came out better for it. Yes, it may not have been all “unicorns and fairies” at the time, but we rose to the occasion and survived; that’s what we do as humans.

Perhaps today, on this Thanksgiving of 2022, we need to look back in awe at ourselves. To be grateful not just for those amazing people who help shape us and add color and spice to our lives, but to give thanks and gratitude for how we have coped and grown. We are not the same people we were last year at this time. We have prevailed and overcome, and we will continue to do so.

Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of my father’s passing. During my morning meditation, I asked him to send me a message and I kept being drawn to the digitized version of my wedding video from 1989. I have not watched this video in more than 30 years because I knew it would make me emotional, but I felt he wanted me to watch it because the message he wished to pass along was in the video.

It was powerful to watch, since so many of my loved are in Spirit, and even some of those who remain, like my mother, are far different with age. I quickly realized, it wasn’t just a message from Daddy that I was looking for, but rather, I was receiving an entire message about being grateful for how I have evolved and grown, and in ways I could never have imagined at the time.

We all have a story like this within in us. Use today as a day to reflect on how you have grown and learned to shine, even when times were hard. How those all encompassing things of the past, seem to fade with time, and what was important yesterday may not be tomorrow. Appreciate every person you look at today, this is a moment in time that will not be relived. Everyone of those individuals, helps to shape us into a better version of ourself. So give thanks for them, and give thanks for you. We have prevailed. We have triumphed. We have persevered. And we will continue to do so.