Unconscious Thanksgiving Traditions

Have you ever heard the story about the little girl who wondered why her mom always cut the ends off the ham before baking?

It's one of my favorite tales because it illustrates how doing things because that’s just how we’ve always done them, isn’t always a good idea. We are “unconscious” when we’re merely going through the motions without understanding the “why” or meaning behind them.

Given this insight, have you ever thought about your own Thanksgiving traditions?

For example, have you intentionally created practices that give deeper meaning to the holiday? Or do you just repeat "what's always been done" in your family because that's just how things are done?

Why New Thanksgiving Traditions Are Important

When I became a new mom and had my own family, I tried to recreate the Thanksgiving traditions that had brought me such joy as a child. Ironically, this caused me a lot of grief because my expectations of what Thanksgiving was "supposed" to be, did not match my reality.

My little family lived two states away from my extended American relatives so I could not celebrate with lots of family around like I wanted.

Since my husband is Swedish (and Swedes don't really care about an American tradition because surprise, Thanksgiving is an American holiday), he had no nostalgia for the day-long cooking, football watching, and boisterous family camaraderie I longed for.

Without all the bluster and energy of a bunch of people around, I needed to reevaluate what new Thanksgiving traditions I could intentionally create. I wanted to explore what I could do to make the holiday happy and meaningful for me, not based on the past, but created from the present.

And then when my immediate family made the decision to embrace veganism, I had another opportunity to readjust my old expectations of what “should” be front and center on the Thanksgiving table.

Last year, I wrote about the Thanksgiving holiday lore programming that many of us are oblivious to, examples of new Thanksgiving traditions my family created, and our gratitude ground rules - check out that journal entry for examples of reimagined Thanksgiving traditions for inspiration to create new ones for yourself.

How to Find New Thanksgiving Traditions

The first step we need to take before we change anything in our lives is to slow down. We simply can't make any changes if we're so busy multitasking and trying to constantly cross things off a never-ending to-do list. Instead of trying to feel productive and tackle the holiday hustle, we need some quiet in order to have the space to reflect.

With a calm mind, we can more easily identify old beliefs about our Thanksgiving traditions and decide if they are worthy of keeping or releasing. If they need to go, use a grounding cord—an energetic drain to release them. By cleaning out old, outdated beliefs, we create the space to bring in new insights, new traditions.

Going within, we can ask ourselves:

• What aspect of Thanksgiving do I enjoy and want to keep?

• What would I like to change?

• Am I brave enough to do things differently than the norm?

• Am I willing to question the food we serve?

• What emotions have I felt during past Thanksgivings?

• How do I want to feel this year?

• What am I willing to release or do to heal so that I may have the Thanksgiving that I desire?

When we release old beliefs, we are able to enjoy our current reality even when it doesn't match what we think we need—in this case, to have a "Happy Thanksgiving".

Do Your Thanksgiving Traditions Match Your Current Reality?

Every day is a good day to increase our mindfulness, but we can use holidays such as Thanksgiving to catapult our consciousness!

We learned and practiced how to energetically release old thoughts and beliefs around Thanksgiving in this month's Practicum as well as how to come into present time so we can see clearly what it is we truly want to create for ourselves and our families.

If you would like to participate in the Practicum for hands-on practice and further insight into these energy management tools, Join the waitlist to be first to know when the Practicum opens again.

I’m grateful to you for your willingness to learn and grow and heal, too! That’s how we make a difference--not only in our own lives, but in the lives of our loved ones and ultimately the collective. This 47 clip from the Reverend Michael Beckwith sums it up beautifully!

Let me know if I can support you as we prepare for the holiday season. Or if you have a special loved one, Gift Cards are available, too!