This is the Thanksgiving Weekend in Canada and I am encouraged to see the many expressions of thankfulness and gratitude on social media. In a world, where much is in flux and apparent crisis, thankfulness is a challenge but a great place to start towards freedom.

This weekend, we are also officially launching our new website at www.epicengage.com. Our excitement is not simply about what it has taken to get here or the launch itself but where it will lead.  I want to thank Kate Stetler-Holgate and Brian Deckard for all of their initiative, empathy, wisdom and flexibility in getting us here. I also want to thank the growing team in Amy Hiscox, Joel Sweeney, William Murray, Eva Marks MacIsaac and Liz Burt in being part of this evolving process. I am humbled by both your excellence and love for what you each do. Personally, I am thankful for the work I get to do and I try to express that as much as and wherever I can.

That being said, my thought, this day, is about wholehearted thankfulness. Whereas I consider wholeheartedness is the all in virtue and thankfulness the health and peace building virtue, I ponder, this weekend, the value of building cultures where we live thankfulness; where we express it in deeds and words.

Thankfulness for both trials and triumphs is a powerful notion. When we see both challenges and championship moments as opportunities, we start to understand the power of thankfulness. When we realize that trials are intended for us to overcome through adaptation and growing in strength, and triumphs are intended to confirm our success in doing so, are they not simply twin spirits designed to see us advance? Expansion of our capacities requires challenge and tests. Realizing that we have expanded same requires triumph. One simply precedes the other.

Some years back, I coined the phrase “I am about to get better now” in response to a challenge directly in my face. What if we saw crisis as a teacher? What if we saw victory as a teacher? What if crisis was that teacher that said “You can do it!”? What if victory is the teacher that says “See!”?

“Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity.” — Baha’u’llah

Ponder this. What if we saw both crisis and victory as teachers for which we were thankful? What if victory and prosperity was a time to prove ourselves successful through generosity of spirit? What if adversity was our best coach saying “Oh you are so ready for this.”?

In the worlds of work, business, school, community and family, I suggest, this Thanksgiving, that we give thanks for both teachers. I also suggest that we live thankfulness wholeheartedly, thanking others when we have received and accepting thanks from others when we have given. Imagine the strength of culture when we do so. Imagine the sense of unity created when we express appreciation, gratitude and thankfulness in words and actions. Imagine the coolness and joy of companies, campuses and communities that do so.

Imagine. Then be thankful for your imagination, and make it so.

Thanks for reading and considering today.

Peace, passion and prosperity.

Barry Lewis Green, aka The Unity Guy™