Thanksgiving is a time when families gather. When our feasting is a celebration of community, of connection, of togetherness, of gratitude.

But not this year. At least not as it’s been before.
Many earth angels are alone, missing their families and friends.
For others, seeing loved ones is complicated.
And for those who are celebrating with the loved ones living under the same roof…well, they’ve been seeing a lot of them this year, so there’s that.
It can be easy to dwell in the grieving of what feels lost and gone. Of the stuckness.

So much change has happened so fast. It seems natural to yearn for a dose of what was. For stability. For normal. For familiar.
I keep getting visions of people reaching for a dead branch lodged between rocks on a raging river. Holding on. Because letting go feels terrifying.
Our world has changed forever. And truth be told, it’s constantly changing forever. I still remember sitting at my cubicle desk back in the 80’s, thinking “OMG, I can send a message to someone through my computer?!”
We just forget that, because a lot of what’s changing feels terribly uncomfortable. Restricting, contracting, limiting, unknown. Like we can’t trust tomorrow.

Gary Zukav wrote, “Both the Winter and Summer solstices are the expression of love. They show us the opposition of light and dark, expansion and contraction, that characterize our experiences in the Earth school so that we can recognize our options as we move through our lives.”

We’ve been in the outwardness of expansion for so long, the natural inwardness of contraction seems foreign. And yet, it’s so very natural.
We are in an intense cycle of learning and recognition.
Of remembering what truly matters.
Of gratitude for every single blessing in our lives. Even when those blessings show up disguised as irritants.

I’ve spend much of this morning (as I write) fending off the grouchies. Swirling emotions as I don’t know when/if our daughter will be back for the holiday, unable to see my brother because we have separate pods, stressing to make sure we have all the favorite foods for our son, daughter-in-law and our daughter, if she’s here, and worried about other loved ones in my life. Those things that many are facing.

As I sit outside in the gift of a warm sunny November day, I breathe in the fresh air and look around. I feel the gentle breeze blowing. I hear the birds. I squint in the glow of the sun, so low on the horizon this time of year.
I reflect on all the wonderful in my life. I remember gratitude. And I am filled again.

We need time to process.
We need to remember that we are human. And whatever the circumstances, know that it’s okay to have emotions and express them in healthy ways.
We need time to just be. To integrate. To gently allow.
As we do that, we pray and do our darnest to stay in faith, surrendering to whatever it is we’re feeling in the moment.
All…so that we can emerge with a new view of the world and all its glory.

Maybe this isn’t a Thanksgiving, interrupted, but rather a Thanksgiving to dig even deeper into the experience of gratitude and its profound healing powers.

With that, I’d like to share how grateful I am for YOU – a sensitive, heartful earth angel here to make the world a better, kinder, sparklier and more compassionate place.

Thanksgiving blessings and so much love to you and yours.

Until next time…
xo Elvia