Food for thought. American Thanksgiving is coming up this week. A time to give thanks for the things in our lives that are meaningful to us.
To me, it seems like it should also be a time to reflect on what it means to be grateful. And for that matter, what is the other side of thankful? Not the opposite, but the other side of the same positive coin. I think the answer is the ideal of forgiveness.
Flip the coin.
Heads - be grateful. Tails - forgive.
This Thanksgiving week, I challenge myself to be more mindful of both sides of this potent coin.
Some of the baggage is that it's a namby pamby thing that doormats do. But from everything I've managed to read and see and understand, forgiveness is a brawny, muscular exercise that I kind of imagine someone with a great passion for life and a great hearty sort of disposition being able to take on. ~Michael McCullough on Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippet, Getting Revenge and Forgiveness, aired November 6, 2008* * *
Forgiveness, I feel, means not to forget what they have done. But forgiveness means do not keep your negative feeling towards them. So, as far as their action is concerned, sometimes you should use your intelligence. You deliberately have to take countermeasure, but without negative feeling.
~H. H. the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, in an interview with Paul Ekman
1 comment:
Lovely post. Hope you had a good week.
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