Wednesday, December 3, 2014

A Smileful of Thanks

The carnivorous human bearing of teeth (aka smile)
is said by some to harken from a toothy display of  healthiness!
Spending time with family over the Thanksgiving holiday has me thinking (and ostensibly feeling) upon what being thankful is really all about.  On the surface, it seems self evident that gratefulness is a positive mental state to aspire to, but what exactly does being thankful mean?

I feel thankfulness exists as part of the process of being aware of self and other.  When we have a positive experience (perhaps mixed with negative and neutral experiences), we then recognize internally this experience (ideally isolated to a single precious thing) for that which it is, something which has the quality of being positive, and then, most importantly, we mindfully acknowledge the experience, bathing in the endorphin buzz results.  That last bit is the truly thankful moment and it does seem to me to be fully internal.

Of course, if we choose to communicate our experienced thanks externally to others, well then, that is an added plus, which perhaps can cause a whole series of thankful moments, domino effect style riding out across the planetary sphere and forward into time immemorial.

And so as I ride the cusp of the current moment, I am thankful for the ability to develop and share my sometimes grandiose and sometimes piddling ideas here on this blog with you.

(Thank you for reading and responding!)

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