This week is Thanksgiving, a time to give thanks for what we are blessed to have. This is the time of year when we return to our roots, visit our families and keep the rituals that we’ve had since birth. A time to step away from the hustle and bustle of life in the information age, to a place where memories are stored. A time for giving thanks for our blessings, for our family and for love.

What will you do this year? More importantly, what attitudes will you embrace? The holidays can be hectic, with old wounds from sores gone by aching and causing grief. Past grievances come to life over pumpkin pie, as you’re reminded that your sister, or cousin or brother or aunt, always did get the most attention, after all.

The question this year is this: How can you face this Thanksgiving with an air of peace? How can you let go of the past and allow love and forgiveness to heal?

Sure, there are many issues in your family, such is universal to man. Pain, hurt and offense is a part of life. The key to becoming a better person, rather than bitter, is to give negative emotions no place to stay. Taking a deep breath, holding it for a moment, then releasing your air and all the angst along with it.

Then, no matter what happens, or who says what, you can offer a warm smile of love and forgiveness into everyone in your life, regardless of flaws. Nobody is immune to hard issues, but it’s our individual choice to hold unforgiveness, or like the tree that releases its leaves in fall, to let it go.

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.
— Raymond Lindquist

Written by dotJenna

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