[Oe List ...] Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life: HappyThanksgiving

[Janice Ulangca]

Paula, I love your Gratitude Unlocks the Fullness quote!  And the questions about "If you were boarding a boat today.." are intriguing.  I've been pondering lately what I need to "sail away from" and "toward" in my 75 year old life.  What has become lower priority or downright clutter?  Letting go is an immediate task, to make room in limited time/energy space for the treasures.  Then - what new is needed, even outside the comfort zone?  Seems like living with these questions is for me a good thing right now.  Thanks much for sharing.

What a wonderful Thanksgiving conversation this is!  As more special colleagues pass beyond this life, and others face new physical realities, perhaps our reflections are deepening.  There is incredible sweetness to this wisdom.  This sharing too is unlocking the fullness of life.

Janice
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Paula Philbrook 
  To: OE DIALOGUE 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2010 8:49 AM
  Subject: [Oe List ...] Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life: HappyThanksgiving


  Thank you Sandra.

  I have always love the celebration of Thanksgiving!  From waking at 4 am to start 10 birds in the first floor kitchen at 4750 to a late night celebration in Jawale with Dennis and Amy Jennings.  (We had a roll and a slice of canned ham and we sang "Now thank we all our God" with great gusto")  

  This past Saturday, I sat with Hannah (17), Leah (15), Lela (25) and Marge (82).  We were planning Thanksgiving over breakfast.
  Eight years ago we began having our feast on Friday.  It gave me an extra day to prepare and allowed us to invite people to join us who could not attend on Thursday.  So we called it Alternative Thanksgiving.  This year, they made an invitation only facebook event to invite everyone.  

  The menu-Abundance without going over board- Our image a tablespoon of everything.  
  The space-do we have enough chairs-where can we set up the appetizers?
  The decor-who will do the center piece and iron the gold napkins?
  The dialogue-our tradition has been to begin with each person sharing a thanksgving from the past year and the Mayflower Compact with ORID.  As we planned the discussion we decided to ask  "If you were boarding a boat today: Who would you want to have in your boat? What would you be leaving behind or moving away from?  Where would you be headed or moving toward? 

  I have been living with this quote: 
  Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. Melody Beattie
  Let gratitude unlock life's fullness for you this year.

  Paula



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