Thanksgiving Gratitude

October is the month of gratitude for a bountiful life, relationships and love. And, Venus is highlighted this month as Mercury moves direct. So, it is a good month to tune into the heart, to reflect upon your relationships which are a mirror for what is in your heart.

It is also a time to feel gratitude for our ancestors – the gifts they have passed on to us to take responsibility for and to expand further. Our gratitude can also be to have the health, opportunity or desire to help others. Our children have a key role to play so teaching them ‘gratitude’ is very important for the family’s legacy.

When I feel gratitude for the teachings, for a friend’s help or receiving help from a stranger on the street, everything becomes effortless and my heart feels cozy, happy and joyful in the moment. Gratitude brings us closer to our authentic self, allowing us to have fun, to open up and share.

Take a moment this month and think about ancestral stories that have been shared with your family over the years and see what qualities resonate with you and what they reflect to you in this moment.

And here is a fun gratitude exercise for your children.

The yogis say that it takes 40 days for something to become a habit. Here is an exercise to educate the heart. The heart doesn’t need education and requires relaxation, simplicity and a chance to come forward sweetly like a tender flower opening to the sun.

You will need a piece of Bristol board paper for each person or a notebook as well as colored markers. Here are the steps of this gratitude activity:

1. Have children clear their mind with the 2-in and the 2-out breath (refer to previous blogs).
2. Give your children or students an introduction to what gratitude is and share some personal examples.
3. Number from 1-40 down the left side of the paper.
4. Hang the paper on the wall.
5. In the morning have each child write one thing that they are grateful for on the page.
6. Have children draw a picture to go along with the words.
7. You can share as a family.

Here are a couple of examples: “I am grateful for food on the table every day. I am grateful for the love of my parents.”

At the end of the 40 days, you can have a ‘gratitude party’! Enjoy and be creative!