Plan a Multicultural Thanksgiving

Aromas awaken our senses. The turkey, the spices, the pumpkin pies — each aroma reminds us of our traditions.

This year, consider incorporating what we think of as classic American Thanksgiving celebrations into a larger multicultural celebration. As Scarlet Paolicchi of Family Focus Blog explains, "Thanksgiving started as a way of giving thanks for the harvest and was originally celebrated by the Pilgrims and Native Americans, so in my mind, it began as a multicultural affair.”

Here are six tips to creating new memories and traditions.

• Invite people from other cultures to share your Thanksgiving.
• Expand your menu to include foods from around the world.
• Learn a word or phrase from another language. “Thank you” might be a good one to start with.
• Add diversity to your decorations.
• Dance to music from many cultures and traditions.
• Play games from around the world.

If You Want to Be Happy, Be Grateful

“We hold the master key to happiness in our own hands,” says Brother David Steindl-Rast, a monk and interfaith scholar. “All of us want to be happy. In this, we are all together.”

But is it just the happy people who are grateful? He suggests quite the opposite when he says, “It is not happiness that makes us grateful. It is gratefulness that makes us happy.”

Each moment, with the opportunities it contains, is a gift. What we’re grateful for is the opportunity, the gift within every gift.

This approach to gratitude unfolds in Terry Drew Karanen’s article “The Path to Gratitude” in the November issue of Guide for Spiritual Living: Science of Mind magazine. “The first step,” he says, “is being grateful for all that we already have. Only then can we, as Holmes wrote, kiss the lips of our desire.”

Or as Steindl-Rast suggests, slow down, watch where you’re going and, above all, be grateful.

Reduce Stress for Joyous Holidays

Every year, we plan ahead so we can enjoy the holiday season. And every year, many of us succumb to the stresses the holidays bring. How will I find the perfect gift for my spouse? Who shall I invite to our holiday party? What menu will work best for our family celebration? How can I do it all within my budget?

In Psychology Today, Connie Bennett, author of “Smart Habits of Highly Successful People,” offers tips for stress-free holidays. Many of her tips are familiar. Exercise. Eat real food, not just sugary snacks. Take “calm down” breaks.

And, she suggests, be generous. “One of the best ways to stay calm, content and cheerful this time of year is to act generously with your loved ones, co-workers and friends,” she writes. “This doesn’t have to mean you’re spending a lot of money. You can be generous with your compliments. You can generously offer to do a loved one’s dreaded errand. You can generously write a fun, short poem.

“When you are creative with your gifts and thank you’s, people will appreciate your real, heartfelt sentiments.”

The Benefits of Gratitude
by Ernest Holmes

However great the truth of God’s love may be, unless each individual consciously admits it, it does not come in. “Behold I stand at the door and knock.” Being an individual, I must open the door; if I open the door, even partially, I create within myself an avenue for the expression of that love; I allow the complete expression of the infinite through the individuality.

So we must first be right ourselves — the starting point is where we are, within ourselves; we cannot start anywhere else. … Then, after we have gotten ourselves right in love and gratitude and appreciation of our own ability, we, ourselves, must be lifted up. … Then after we have lifted ourselves up through this principle of love, what is our duty toward society in our relationship to other people? We must express that love and gratitude toward them.

This is an excerpt from an article written by Holmes for Uplift magazine in 1918. Read more in the November 2016 issue of Guide for Spiritual Living: Science of Mind magazine.

From the publisher and staff at Science of Mind, we want to thank Tami Meise for her brilliant work on this newsletter. We will miss you and send our blessings for all your endeavors.