It surprised me yesterday morning to open the blinds and see the parking lot in front of our building almost empty. After all, it's a holiday weekend! Then I remembered, lots of people go home for Thanksgiving. This is the first time I've experienced people being able to go home so easily. On the West Coast of Canada and in Hawai'i - many people's families lived far away. Things are not so far here -- I've heard about people going to West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, just to name a few places.
I thought about all those people sitting down with their families. During the holidays relationships take center stage. Dr. Holmes writes in 365 Science of Mind "We all long for intimate relationships, we wish to feel that we are one with people. This yearning, which every normal person has, emanates from an unconscious, but spiritual, perception that we all are one with Life Itself."
Yet, relationships are complicated -- some are easy and natural while others are complex and difficult. I thought back to when I lived in Los Angeles, California and how I would visit one or the other parent on the various holidays. Sometimes buttons got pushed that I'd forgotten I had. I seemed to regress to a certain age around my parents, no matter how old I was.. For me, it was age 11. Lots of 'stuff' happened when I was 11. Invariably I would drive home telling myself I wouldn't do that again next year!! Yet I always did.
As I immersed myself more in the Science of Mind teaching, I realized that regardless of what happened when, or what buttons get pushed, how I reacted to them was up to me.
If you find yourself getting tangled in the old family stories, take a deep breath and remember to be grateful that you have life. Gratitude is the fastest way to move from where you are to where you want to be. Gratitude shifts our energy and gives us the key to creating the atmosphere we choose.
Today I am grateful for all of my families -- family of birth, adoptive family and family of choice.. Regardless of what has gone before this moment, because of them I am here, doing what I do and loving my life. God in them, as them, served me in some way
"Our inner happiness depends not on what we experience, but on the degree of our gratitude to God, whatever the experience." - Albert Schweitzer
SPIRITUAL MIND TREATMENT
God is the only presence and love is the only power. Good alone is real. This is my Truth and the basis of my being.
Knowing this I now declare I am grateful for my family - whether they be by birth or by choice. Each of them is important to who I am today.
I am willing to totally accept everyone exactly as they are. I let go of all fantasies about how I think things should be or should have been. Everyone is in their right place at the right time, whether I like it or not. No matter what might be happening in any area of my life, I choose Love. Love is the only power. I choose Love by being grateful. Grateful for Life Itself as It shows up in the people around me, and in myself as well.
God is the only presence and love is the only power. Good alone is real. This is my Truth and it is good, very good. I release these words into Spiritual Law, and know they are so.
And so it is.
