Wonderful (as usual) to read all of the inspiring contributions. My absence from this amazing forum doesn’t mean I don’t read them frequently, but not contributing is my loss entirely. It is a special day for so many people, although not for many here in Ireland. I wish you all -contributors and staff – another day of Thanksgiving and Gratefulness.

I can’t resist a quotation from Seneca which seems apt for today’s question:

“Will I not walk in the footsteps of my predecessors? I will indeed use the ancient road — but if I find another route that is more direct and has fewer ups and downs, I will stake out that one. Those who advanced these doctrines before us are not our masters but our guides. The truth lies open to all; it has not yet been taken over. Much is left also for those yet to come.” (Letters to Lucilius, XXXIII.11)

Love to all, Pollyanna

Having just had a difficult interaction – not something I experience often thank goodness – this is a particularly apposite question for me to reflect on today. And I note it says “might” rather than “did”…make a difference.

Perhaps the question means my gratitude, but I choose to look at it as how the other person’s gratitude might have made a difference. While I was ending the relationship, I expressed gratitude for all his love and kindness over the last 5 years. He, sadly, could not do likewise and resorted to recriminations and blame. His gratitude might have meant that our deeply caring friendship would have continued, as was my wish. But I have to recognise that he was dealing with a situation he didn’t want and his only way of handling it was to indulge in unwarranted attacks.

Although they were hurtful because I thought them unnecessary (and untrue) , I carry no resentment as I can eradicate such by invoking the prayer given in the 4th of the 12 Steps: This is a [spiritually] sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done.

Perhaps our friendship will survive but at the moment it seems like my most useful ‘action’ is to take no action – and stay away from him. It’s especially sad as we were each other’s “social bubble” and he really was my closest friend.

All of them!

In the words of the Dalai Lama (although I have also heard it being attributed to Alan Watts) : “When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.”

I have also read it as: “ If you lose…”, but I think “when” is more realistic as loss is inevitable in many (Most?) aspects of life – but hopefully not financial investments! I’m aware that there may be some who have the Midas Touch and have never made a bad one, but it has not been my experience, so I can’t share on that unfortunately!

Loss, and gratitude for loss, builds resilience. And resilience is not a static personal characteristic. It can ebb and flow, and sometimes I require many tools and hard work to re-establish equilibrium. But when it returns, the peace and joy is overwhelming.

Having been a regular poster on this site for almost a year, my input dried up for various reasons… spiritual, physical, emotional, and other challenges that rained down and required my attention. But I have nevertheless remained a reader for the inspiration I receive from all the contributors and the reminder to be grateful for all I have been given, all I have lost and all that remains. Thank you all.🙏

Blessings to all.

I am sustained by the memory that when I couldn’t change my feeling and my thinking by thinking (at times a very flawed organ of perception), when I took action, my feeling and my thinking changed.

The action might be as simple, as it was this morning, as lighting a mini-candle on this site and having it tucked up in the corner of my screen. Seeing it reminds me that no matter how difficult circumstances and people are, I want to live in the Light and practice forgiveness, love and gratefulness.

I am deeply concerned about what America may very well experience in the coming days, and my prayers are for a peaceful transition of political power. Blessings.

Thanks for asking for the clarification Mica. I guess it was a bit abstruse… you’d have to be in my head to understand without elaboration!

So… I was reflecting on today’s question while I was plugging something into one of the hubs on my desk that connect computers, a monitor, my phone etc and I was thinking about the word “hub”, which didn’t have the meaning of being a hardware connecting device not so many years ago, and I got to a hub being the centre of a wheel, and how the spokes go out in many directions. Or a focal point (hub)of interest that leads to a new hub of interest and the different directions that takes me – to a new hub etc etc etc. And that’s why I love the internet and that helps me stay curious!

And I think about my place on the planet, with myself as a hub with the focal point under my feet. From there I can pivot and look 360 degrees around me to all those possible horizons. And if I choose to move to another spot, I am standing on a different point and can have a new 360 degrees of horizons. And so I get to us all being People of the Sun and the glyph for that in astrology ⨀ That’s me in the middle being a hub!

Blessings, Mica. 🙏

Thanks, Kevin. Your comment stirred a memory from my childhood religious studies and when I looked it up, I was delighted to find that my memory served me well.

It was the comment of a Pharisee whose prayer of gratefulness ran along the lines of “Thank you God that I’m not like other people who are all sinners – thieves etc.”

It is gratitude, but as you say, in this case it is a selfish emotion. Not passing on the fruits of my gratefulness keeps it hidden, and hidden fruit rots and produces ethylene, which, while useful in a myriad of ways, is not the most pleasant smelling of gases!

So, sharing my gratefulness to benefit others is essential. If I don’t, it might be a case of “Use it or lose it!”