Ross Foti

Waiting for Thanksgiving…

This year, Thanksgiving, the holiday, seems to be meandering its way into the world more slowly than any November on record. It seems I awaken everyday thinking to myself that this is Thanksgiving week. It has become so prevalent – this feeling that it is  Thanksgiving – that I’ve decided it really is Thanksgiving, regardless of the calendar date.

Now I’m not speaking here of roasting a turkey and yams and cranberries with orange and ginger on the side but this feeling continually surfacing within me of gratitude and the opportunity we as a nation have to focus our collective attention on all we have to be grateful for in our lives.

We are living in one of the most transformative times in the history of our human presence on this planet. As a race, we have evolved through the Stone Age, the Iron Age, the Agricultural Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the Technological Revolution – each of them with their own challenges and blessings – and we have done our best. Change isn’t as easy to navigate through as it is to speak of and with each new innovation, we find ourselves with a broader and more complex perspective that requires a deeper understanding of who exactly we are.

Today we are living through another revolution and this revolution has the capacity to trump all others that have come before it. A revolution can be defined as a sudden change in the way we work, live, think, and engage with our world that supersedes all ways that have come before it.

Many of us are continually adapting to the emerging effects of a generation born in a world of screens and social media that all but obliterate the public and private interface we once held as inviolate. Some of us are giddy with the possibilities new technologies offer – a new ease of living not unlike that offered by the discovery of fire, the advent of iron tools, the onset of managed agriculture, the inclusion of machines to assist with tasks and obligations. And still others of us are engaged in a deeper revolution that underlay all of these.

The revolution at hand is a Revolution of Consciousness. We are beginning to connect the sacred and the profane, finding the distance between science and religion shorter than we once imagined. The use of technology as an obliterator of borders and boundaries is increasingly allowing us to discover how alike we are, not how different we are.

It is interesting to note that when I openly speak of consciousness with people unfamiliar with the new frontiers of outdated physics and quantum possibilities, they often assume I am talking about conscience. I am not.

Consciousness is the truth underlying all creation. Every physical object, every emotion and thought, every event and opportunity, every discovery is possible and in fact results from ideas arising in consciousness. Consciousness is neither good nor bad. It simply is reflection of how we engage with the cosmos around and within us. It is the malleable substance with which we create our world.  Consciousness, as a teacher of mine posits, is the field of all being.

So how, you may ask, does all this apply to my waking up each day thinking it is Thanksgiving?  I am thinking it is Thanksgiving because in my heart – the true seat of consciousness – I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to live another day on earth. Sure, with the day will come its own challenges and opportunities, grit and grind, static and melody. Each day is a revolution in itself. For truly, each day is an opportunity to change the way we work, live, think, and engage with our world that supersedes all the days that have preceded it. 

We have the possibility available to us to make of the day what we will, regardless of whether we punch a clock, check our portfolio, spend another day jobless, watch our children, send them off to college and ask ourselves who we are now, sit in a cell somewhere forgotten, or lie in our beds experiencing  disease or dementia. In other words, each day brings us an availability to reconstruct ourselves and our world view based on new information we glean from whatever our daily practice s may include – whether reading the Wall Street Journal or sitting in silent meditation.

The call to consciousness is not asking us to give up anything, but to do anything we do with intention and purpose, with mindfulness. For it is with a mindful engagement with life that all our dreams and aspirations coalesce with our will and we begin to see all that we have and in that seeing what we have, we cultivate a sense of gratitude.

Try it. Perhaps, like me, you too will wake up each day thinking it’s Thanksgiving, and live your day seeing – truly seeing – all that we have to be grateful for, and being grateful for it.

3 Responses to “Waiting for Thanksgiving…”

Diana RomeroNovember 22nd, 2013 at 8:27 pm

From the day I met you ,there have been moments of insirping love and gratitude that you have brought to my life. It could be a few words that at the time recieved did not make sense,only to be open to hear your inspired gift bring clarity. and open the door to another part of life that is more then the existance of who I was beleving I was. Remembering to smile not only as a gesture on my face, but to smile from the esence beyound this wonderful vessel that has been bestowed on me for my use in this universe to experience all things that will remind me to Keep Growing,to go past the edge, because there is nowhere to fall. there is only another level in which to experience yet more of what is available to anyone seeking the beloved. Yes Dear friend of the journey, I benifit form all that you have allowed to flow through you to us. your most special yoga,remindinding me to stay still and listen. your music with words that touch the heart and remind me to share that love with all souls I meet. the meditation on Sunday evening and now this most profound reminder that everyday is a day of Thanksgiving. You will always as always be a part of that place in life I call God sprit. Namaste’ my friend. di moon.

Karen LarsonNovember 23rd, 2013 at 4:13 am

It is with a grateful heart that I acknowledge the gifts of friendship, insights, music, meditations, classes, yoga practice and love that have so enriched my life. Being open to what is out there in the world and what is within me to discover has continued to expand my consciousness onward and upward. I know that this knowledge has always been there, but your presence and stimulating, thought provoking activities and words have served as a catalyst for me to change and grow at a quicker pace and with an eagerness never before experienced. This exposure has also led me to form new and meaningful friendships in our spiritual community and feel supported and loved by so many on this journey through life. I am thankful for all of it. With appreciation and love, Karen

JessieDecember 19th, 2013 at 9:50 pm

This blog reminded me of a quote from another great thinker. So grateful for the impression you’ve made upon my life (and consciousness). “A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.” ~Albert Einstein

Leave a Response