Happy Thanksgiving on this Wonderful Day of Gratitude

I want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving on this wonderful day of gratitude.

My feeling is that everyday is a day of thanksgiving!

We have everything we need to be happy in the present moment, as Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches.

We should practice gratitude every day of our lives, morning and evening.

Then, when holidays like Thanksgiving Day roll around, the inspire us to do acts of generosity.

Here is what Lama Surya Das wrote me about Thanksgiving Day:

What are you thankful for?

I give thanks for the miracle of daily life and breath,

And this gorgeous if endangered natural world,

And the treasure of Dharma friends and family surrounding me,

In this very moment.

I give thanks that I’m not a homeless refugee,

Bombed and hounded, unwelcome at borders,

Climbing concrete dividing walls,

Or an any other person fleeing civil unrest, discrimination, and warfare,

Not a Middle Eastern girl kept from school and modern civil rights,

Nor black Ameri-teen endangered in open streets,

Or stateless ocean-going boat people or Tibetan refugees braving Himalayan snows and Communist guns.

I give thanks I’ve made it to sixty alive,

And with family and faculties intact,

In a great democratic country which needs no armed election monitoring,

With food, shelter, freedom, democracy,

And opportunities.

I give thanks for The Moveable Feast,

Of my decades in both France and Southeast Asia,

With my beloved gurus and comrades-in-spirit on the Path of love and awakefulness,

And thrill with gratitude and cherish-edness for this shining autumn New England day.

I give thanks for you.

Thank you very smooch!

Have a conscious holyday weekend.

With love and blessings,

Lama Surya Das