On Being Grateful...

Gratitude is defined as: the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.*

In the month of November we find ourselves thinking about all of the things we are grateful for. Maybe we do extra kind acts during this month, maybe we practice a little more yoga, maybe we thank a higher power for all of the things in our lives. But what about the rest of the year? Why is it that we are make a bigger deal about being more grateful during the month of November than we do any other time? Is it because of the Holiday?

The one that we as a society have chosen to overlook? We make the giving holiday a holiday all about me, me, me... about shopping and buying the latest high tech gadget and once those doors open we do not care about anyone else. We only care about being the first to get that new gadget. We fight people over it, we are rude to sales people and our fellow citizens, and we fork out tons of money for something we ultimately may not need. Our society has become a consumer driven society, while it has always been a consumer driven society it seems to only have gotten worse over the years, with at least the past 5 years the worse I've seen to date. With the expansion and popularity of Target as the basic white girl stomping grounds and with the making of the most basic things mainstream to social media we feel we have to fill our homes and closets with the latest trends to compete with our friends and people we don't even know. And for what? What kind of satisfaction do we get out of this? Because for me it is not worth it if it means I have to become a different person to impress people who's opinions I do not even care about. If it means I have to be anything other than kind it is also not worth it.

The holiday of Thanksgiving has become about how early stores can open their doors to allow people in to shop. Forget the family dinner, forget the family gathering, forget a holiday that is supposed to bring people together in thanks giving. So our holiday that is based on gratitude has been replaced with shopping not only with Black Friday, which continues into the next week now, but to small business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Retail shops are playing on a society's wants, driving into us that we need the latest trends to be what we as a society have created as being cool. Our consumer driven society is pulling us away from things that should really matter to us, such as family and family time. No wonder our world is going to crap. No wonder there are shootings and death every other day. We are no longer raised to value things, such as family, anymore. We are raised with electronic devices as baby sitters. There is less human interaction. But at the end of the day an electronic device cannot provide a warm loving hug we all desperately need. One of the basic human needs is touch and an electronic device just cannot provide that for us.

Being a yogi and practicing yoga I believe we should be grateful for what we have all year long, possibly a little more during the holiday season, since our society puts more pressure on us during this time of year more so than any other time of year. We also receive more this time of year than any other time of year and we have more to be grateful for. However it seems we are less grateful around the holidays. We may not receive exactly what we wished for, but how about instead of being disappointed about it and making a fuss and a scene we simply be grateful for the thought that went into the gift. We can make the gift giver feel warm and pleased by showing them we are grateful for a gift that they took time in picking out rather than making them feel horrible because it may have not been exactly what we asked for. There is no rule against exchanging the gift later but we do not need to make the giver feel bad in the process.

What baffles me the most about gratitude this time of year is I was teaching a yoga class to some young gymnasts. I told them the theme for the week is gratitude. They began getting into a comfortable seat for meditation and warm-ups when one of the girls asked me what gratitude was. At the time I didn't think anything of it. I answered her question and then I had them meditate on the things that they are grateful for in their lives. As I look back on the incident now I have to wonder how is that this at least 10 year old has never heard the word gratitude? How is it that they did not know what gratitude was? What are they being taught in school? At home? In life?

We always want to receive gratitude, but sometimes and most times it is hard for us to express gratitude towards another person or animal. And according to the definition gratitude is not only about being grateful but also the act to return kindness. See my post on being kind here. We need to make sure that our future generations are prepared to show kindness and gratitude towards other people. This is how our society will learn to be a loving community instead of a hateful one. So this holiday season choose to focus your attention on kindness, compassion and forgiveness instead of the bitterness of the consumer driven society our world has become. Maintain a regular yoga practice, both on and off the mat, in our every day lives. Show some kindness as times of stress heighten and our patience wares thin. Take this time to remember the Yamas and Niyamas of Yoga, the "ethical codes" which a yogi lives his/her life by. These ethical codes will give you an anchor to help keep you grounded during the holiday season and not lose yourself in the hustle and bustle associated with the holiday season. 

Remember that gratitude can be given all year long, it should be given all year long!!As you go about your holiday season and every day of the year think of things you are grateful and how you can show gratitude to those around you!! 

Namaste my friends!!

xo

Kelly

*definition from Google search dictionary.
** pictures are not my own but found on google search.