- Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr
Happy Thanksgiving to anyone reading from the United States.
Happy day of living gratitude to everyone, whether living in the US or not.
Living gratitude…this has become my way of talking about where I dwell and how I dwell.
A lot of folks define where they live by location: city, town, state, coast, nation, etc.
Other folks define where they live by the kind of dwelling space they occupy: RV, condo, shelter, apartment, home.
Close your eyes and count one one thousand and come back here when you do.
When you closed your eyes?
Where were you dwelling?
Right here right?
I mean not here on this blog but right here, in this moment. Right?
Kay.
Think about this with me then: if we dwell in moments, can we ever be homeless?
I know.
That’s a huge leap.
But lemme offer something: housing can change: forcefully or by our own choosing.
Cities and towns will shift…again, by our own choosing or by force.
Transitional living situations exist all over the world.
But where does everyone dwell?
In their thoughts. 24/7. No matter what the structure encasing those thoughts for that now looks like.
This Thanksgiving? I’m grateful beyond for really ‘getting’ what it means to dwell in thought…to feel at home, in thought.
My own housing scenario has been extremely diverse in the past few years, partly by choice, partly by force.
But through all of it? I’ve learned that much more that as we stand and dwell in thought, there’s nothing we can’t overcome.
And no matter what the fears and doubts and beliefs that will lure you about surviving on your own without a known sense of housing, there is always 24/7 assured safety in the constant everpresence and constant perpetual care of knowing you dwell in thought.
Why?
Because that is where you unite with your source..the divine Mind that bases each one of our being.
Known housing would seem to appear as an established home we own or rent.
But when that’s not our now, when establishing a secure base seems next to impossible, and even when we have some structure secured, it’s so vital comforting to remember where we really do dwell.
I’ve found home in my car, in shelters, in make shift hotel rooms, in short term rentals, in longer term rentals in just about anywhere you can think of that is the type of housing options one might have in the US.
And with each changed setting, I’ve learned that much more about where I really dwell: in thought.
Why has this mattered?
Well, where do we fear? Is fear a place? No. It’s a state of thought. So is the state of thought of survival, protection, assured safety.
There’s really only ever one ‘where’ ‘here’ ‘there’…It resides in our conviction that we can never be separated from the Love that bases us, grounds us, sustains us even when we can’t even fathom how we’re gonna make it to the next day, even when we don’t see how we’re going to pay for something, even when we can’t comprehend how we ended up in make shift ville.
The whole point: in thought there is NO make shift ville. In thought, dwelling with that deep conviction of oneness, there is no homeless permanent state of being.
There’s no ‘where’ then that you can’t unite with the source of your being, whether sleeping in your car, on the battlefield, under a bridge, in a shelter, or in an established dwelling space.
And I for one am beyond grateful this season to be vastly more deeply aware of where we each hold a permanent, established home. And that in thought, there’s only safety, serenity, stability, and peace.
If you’re finding yourself in a makeshift circumstance, and you need a bit of a boost to try to regain a sense of security within, close your eyes, still your thoughts, get so clear about the right now moment being all you need to know about and feel the everpresence of Love that is mothering your moment and shepherding your needs, really every hour.
It may feel you’re totally cut off from a normal sense of life.
It may feel you’re completely ostracized from everything that shaped the regular order of your days.
And it may absolutely feel like you are all alone.
But you aren’t.
And you’re not.
You are constantly at home in thought and forever inseparable from the source of being.
Dwelling there, you will feel peace. And a deep lasting sense of home.
I sure have.
And for this I am deeply grateful.
Happy happy Thanksgiving…….
“Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven. Stranger thou art the guest of God.” ~ Mary Baker Eddy
