Thanksgiving is a special holiday. It is a wonderful opportunity to gather with our loved ones and be mindful of all of our blessings. Gratitude is a powerful emotion and one that is beneficial for our health. When we focus on what we are blessed with, we cannot focus on our fears and worries. By focusing on gratitude, we drive away feelings of anxiety. This lightens our energetic system which improves our mental, physical, and spiritual health. 

Gratitude can be a powerful healer but it can be taken a step further. We can feel thankful for our blessings while deep down still harboring animosity, resentment, and even hate against those who have wronged us in the past. The negative energy and emotions associated with this will continue to congest your energetic system and eventually manifest itself as a chronic ailment.

This Thanksgiving, I challenge you to take your gratitude further by practicing forgiveness. Forgive those who have brought you harm and extend them love and kindness, remembering that they too are an imperfect being. Forgiveness is not condoning; it is freeing yourself of the experience so that its memory no longer affects you. On this day of thankfulness, there is an enduring truth that I am particularly grateful for: our hardships do not define us or control us, they teach us, shape our character and give us strength.