Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends! (American friends, you can leave this unread until November 24th ;))

Thanksgiving, especially when you reach the mid-life age range, can feel bittersweet. We will pause to celebrate the holiday this weekend, but with it comes many memories from the past. 

Perhaps we remember Thanksgivings from our childhoods. Or Thanksgivings from a time in our life that looked very different from what life looks like now. Perhaps there are people no longer at the dinner table that we had expected would be there forever. Perhaps there are now new faces at the table. 

Thanksgiving brings up feelings of nostalgia accompanied with sadness accompanied with the requisite gratitude. It is a holiday that can put us into a place of deep vulnerability.

In other words, Thanksgiving reminds us that we are human. 

Let's celebrate our shared humanity today.

Let us remember that we are connected by a common longing to belong, a shared need for love, and a universal desire to be free to be fully ourselves. There is no arguing or taking sides about this.

What I have learned along my journey is that it is good to reflect on where we’ve been, but it is important to stop right where we are and be grateful for things exactly as they are, right at this moment.

Because even if things aren’t perfect, or yet as we wish them to be, we are still here. And “being here” is ripe with possibility.

This Thanksgiving, appreciate the people that surround you, the delicious and comforting food on the table and your cozy home.

But let’s also appreciate the personal journey each of us has been on and give thanks that we are still on it. There are still new paths to take, new people to meet and fresh magic to experience. 

This Thanksgiving, let’s be grateful for who we’ve become and the potential that exists within every new day.

With love,

Kena xo 

Kena Paranjape, Founder, All You Are