Happy Thanksgiving
Baggage — what Baggage? Watercolour by Rami Schandall, 2020.
Whether or not you celebrate this Canadian holiday, I wish you joy and moments of gratitude today and in all your days.
Spiritual practice and contemporary psychology understand gratitude to be beneficial to our psychological and physical health. The science is not yet entirely clear how these mechanisms work, but there are measurable benefits associated with gratitude.
Last week I touched on shadow work and linked to an article which does a good job of naming the way shadow shows up in spiritual communities. One important concept is "spiritual bypassing" and I hold this close in my attention when I teach. An example of spiritual bypassing would be if we used gratitude practice to skip over or bury our experiences of “non-gratitude.”
When we are feeling anger, jealousy, fear, grief, bitterness, even hatred, these states have something to tell us about past experiences, or something happening right now. Denying these less welcome aspects of our humanity hides what they would teach us. The qualities of mara need to be met with as much compassion and loving courage as we can muster.
Anam Thubten gave a talk recently about ”dancing with mara” where he describes the importance of becoming well-acquainted with our struggles and painful patterns, and recognizing that we will not get rid of them. They are part of us! We do not to need amplify them, or deny them. We can grow more wise in the ways of this dance through radical self-care, and ongoing, mindful inquiry.*
What would an authentic practice of gratitude look like for you? Can we nurture natural gratitude without burying “non-gratitude”? Let's play with this idea!
Resourcing resilience:
• Tuesday Sangha is a weekly online meditation circle, at 7:30 pm, ET. Contact me to learn more and to register.
• I will run a mini-meditation retreat in collaboration with Chameleon Yoga, October 26-30th, 8–8:30 am ET each morning.
• Unwind & Restore online yoga class with Breathe Yoga Studio, Saturdays 11:15 am to 12:30 pm.
• Beginning in November, I will offer a second weekly yoga class online.
• Contact me to inquire about private or semi-private yoga or meditation sessions.
* Meditation and yoga are supportive of mental health, but they are no substitute for psychotherapy or personal counseling. Consider working with a mental health professional to reinforce your care toolkit, particularly if shadow work feels daunting.
Check the calendar for current classes and offerings.
This post is drawn from my (approximately weekly) note to my newsletter subscribers. Sign up here.
