Magic in the Snowy Woods
The power of giving thanks gives life its vitality! The power of giving thanks comes through your awareness that you are always in a position to receive all the elements the Universe has to offer. Everything is available to you. Gregge Tiffen (The Power of Giving Thanks, November 2007)
As I do most every morning, I felt grateful upon waking this day before Thanksgiving here in the U.S. Stepping outside to connect with the star beings, I discovered clouds conspiring to obscure my visual connection. Firing up the wood stove, I cozied in with my journal to discover what reflections would emerge.
I reflected once again that, while it is good to have a special day to give thanks, the irony of Thanksgiving’s origins in this country deserves us to pause for thoughtful consideration. I’m grateful that as a society we are beginning to acknowledge, understand, and hopefully, heal the dark choices that haunt our past.
In recent weeks, I’ve deepened my exploration in this regard, discovering and beginning to reckon with the role of my ancestors in these choices. I’m also considering my complicity, simply by being a part of this culture and not having greater awareness of its impact on all. As you give thanks, I invite your heart and soul to open to your own exploration.
I’ve added this exploration to my attention and focus on the positive and good that is emerging in our world. On possibilities for a bright future and on those who are actively calling it forth. Despite the disgust and sadness I feel for the atrocities we force upon one another and on our dear planet, I’m grateful for this life and for the opportunities to learn and grow that are ever present. Despite the irony of the holiday’s origins, I celebrate, grateful for my conviction that, despite history and the current chaos and cruelty worldwide, justice and light will prevail.
Several years back, sitting quietly by the fire on another cold morning, the words that came surprised me and took me to an unexpected place: gratitude for being me. When we give thanks for being who we are, we tap into the vitality of Life.
Today as I ease into Thanksgiving Day 2025 and gaze out toward the wintry woods, I feel into the deep knowing that I am One with all Life. Mind surrenders and a gentle wave of deep peace moves in me, through me, and around me leaving gratitude in its wake. The gray dawn sky brightens with a few moments of red/orange/pink vibrance. Another day. Another beginning in the infinite cycle of Life.
Sensing that gratitude asks not for my words, not my list of what I’m grateful for, but rather for my heart, my presence to gratitude and, indeed, Life itself, this is my Prayer of Thanks for 2025.
May you tap into the peace and gratitude within and flow in that wave throughout these days of thanksgiving and all the holy days ahead.
San Luis Valley - Vastness Beyond the Woods