Gratitude, Turkey & Choosing Love

The great spiritual teacher, Ram Dass (“Be Here Now”) once said:

“If you think you’re enlightened go spend a week with your family.”

For those of us who consider ourselves to be loving, conscious people on a spiritual path, we are sometimes flabbergasted by just how easily being with our family can trigger negative emotions and old patterns.

I’ve good news.

This is pretty normal.

You are not the only one.

Some of these DNA-related folks have the playbook and intuitively know how to push our buttons.

If you plan to spend Thanksgiving with relatives, here are a few things to remember:

Begin your day with a few minutes to write a gratitude list of all the people and things you are grateful for.

Set the intention for how you would like the day to go.

Share that intention with at least one other person who will be at the table and ask them to help you “hold the space” for a loving, fun, enjoyable event.

Also, make this person your ally, have a game plan of how to handle certain situations that always seem to come up.

For instance, if cousin Billy and cousin Bob always get into a disagreement, be sure to seat them at opposite ends of the table.

Consider this: No one is showing up to the gathering with the intention to deliberately try to piss you (or anyone else) off.

As much as possible, use humor to deflect conflict.

Do a Google search for stupid, silly Thanksgiving jokes and write them down and have them handy.  Here’s one:

“What did the Turkey say to the computer?”

“Google, Google, Google!”

Finally, remember that it’s always a good idea to avoid controversial topics at the dinner table.  If you, or someone else, brings up a topic that is sure to get folks riled up, be the adult in the room who speaks up and suggest that in the spirit of fun and harmony, it’s time to change the subject, and then guide them into another subject.

Wishing you love, laughter and magical kisses,

Arielle