by Vince DiPasquale
Do not limit the view of yourself. Do not despise the conditions of your birth. Do not resist the natural course of your life. In this way you will never weary of this world.
When people lack a sense of awe, there will be a disaster. When people do not fear worldly power, a greater power will arrive.
Therefore, the sage knows himself but makes no show of himself; loves himself but does not exalt himself. He prefers what is within to what is without
This incredibly special time of the year is a season to say thank you to the God of our understanding for the journey each of us are traveling. Before we began our journeys into this world, our Creator and the angels got together and met with us. They gave us the gift of life and told us that we will have within us all that we need for our journeys. They sent us into the world, with all its humanness, knowing we would need help. They told us that we have free will to make our own decisions. They wished us to one day be able to answer the ultimate question of life, “Who am I?” They told us that if we follow the spiritual path, we will be able to learn the secrets of life slowly and gradually. In the Tao we are told not to resist the natural course of life. If we walk each day in the spirit of gratitude and openness, we will be able to access the God within who will teach us not to look outside for the abundance of life. The outside world is only temporary. The inner world contains the spirit of our Higher Power. Relax, and as they say, go with the flow. Let us all learn to love ourselves in the full meaning of the word. Know that each one of us is God’s creation and that we have within us the power to receive and share the abundance of life. We are being taught to look within, to be a people with a sense of awe. Nature is our greatest teacher. All we must do is look at the world as God’s creation and, please, never take it for granted. We are told that unless we are in conjunction with God’s creations and unless we respect all that we have we will never understand who we are.
We are told to look at life with positive eyes. Do not look at your past in a negative way. Remember your history is your teacher. Each one of us is on a spiritual journey. We are being led and all we need to do is be open to all the teachers in our lives. Remember we were sent into this world to learn, discover, and experience all of life’s lessons. Each of our experiences, if we face them with a positive attitude, will become our strengths. There is so much we can learn about ourselves. Our strengths then become our message of hope for others. In AA, our 12th step tells us to share our gifts with others. We must learn that how we treat ourselves is how we will treat others. If we seek the abundance of life, then we will have so much to share with the world. We are taught by the Tao that the secrets of life are to be honest with self and others, to know yourself with the spirit of peace and serenity, to love yourself but to live in the spirit of humility and learning, and to always be open to the wonderful journey of life. Please know we are never done. We are always in process. Each experience both negative and positive happens so we have the courage to discover our strengths. If we look at our strengths through the eyes of gratitude and respect them, they will become gifts we can share with others. In this special time of the year, the spirit of gratitude reminds us to always give thanks because we have been given so many gifts. Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on and remember all our wonderful gifts. Enjoy the holidays respectfully, with gratitude, and openness. May all of you have a fantastic and blessed Thanksgiving!
