Necessity or Luxury?

Happy Thanksgiving! Here in the U.S. we're commemorating a national holiday. This is an annual celebration of harvest and blessings from the year and was made official in 1941 by a vote from Congress. Since this festivity is unrelated to any religion, it is usually celebrated by nearly everyone and involves the most travelers of any other time of the year. The roads and skies are generally crowded starting a few days before and through the weekend.

This year, of course, is very different. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans not to travel and even though some are choosing to ignore the warning of spreading the COVID-19 virus, it does appear that the number of people flying is down by more than half from last year. In addition, sales of large turkeys, the traditional dinner star, are lower since people are having smaller gatherings and it's estimated that nearly 40% plan to prepare a meal for only members of their household. Needless to say, many have a sense of loss which makes last Monday's Quote particularly relevant.

"Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.

Without them, humanity cannot survive."

- The Dalai Lama

Usually I'll comment on someone else's quote, but this week the only thing I wanted to write was, "'Nuf said". Even though comedians make jokes about family get-togethers, especially at Thanksgiving time, not being able to gather around the dinner table with friends and relatives is really hard for many of us. Even though I'm always looking for the upside of any situation, 2020 has definitely been a challenge, but The Dalai Lama put everything into perspective.

Basically, if we're going to spend all our time making someone else wrong, we're screwed. If we're going to keep arguing for our limitations or make poor decisions just to look "right", we don't stand a chance. If we're going to only blame others for our unhappiness, we'll never figure out how to improve our situation and things will get worse. Once we understand that love and compassion, for ourselves and others, are essential and not just an extravagance, it's the first step toward finding our way through this tough time.

The last few blogettes that I've posted have all praised love. I've been inspired and received a big nudge from the Universe to follow that theme. I'm not a Biblical scholar by any means, however I think I recall something about faith, hope, and love all being important, but love is the greatest of them. Thinking about the alternative just doesn't sound promising. I don't always feel like looking for love in a situation or another person. I often hesitate before choosing to love myself. What I can say though is when I lean into love, it always feels better. This is what I wish for you to be able to do, too.

Sparkles and Love,

P.S. In the spirit of the holiday l want to thank all of you for reading my MQ's and blogettes and other "stuff" that I put out there! I especially love it when you respond or comment. I truly adore hearing from you and I appreciate how much you support me by simply being part of this community. I hope I'm doing the same for you. Let's keep it going. Sending you sparkles, love, and gratitude.