Giving Thanks
Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope that the scrumptiousness of roast turkey and pumpkin pie have filled (are filling?) your belly to your heart's content this weekend. Beyond the deliciousness of feasting and enjoying precious downtime, it's also a time to take stock of what I'm grateful for. This year, I'm thinking about how there are many of us around the world who don't feel accepted because of our gender, our sexual orientation, the colour of our skin, our socioeconomic status or any number of other things that cause us to be defined as "other".
Otherness
As an immigrant, I've known what it's like to feel "other". I'm grateful that I'm at a stage in my life where I'm more comfortable in my own skin. As the Founder and CEO of a music school that seeks to help empower families to be agents of positive social change, I've learned to question the status quo. To ask, "What else can a music school stand for?" As a female business owner, I've learned to find and develop my voice and to choose to build a business that doesn't have to fit into paradigms that aren't aligned with my values and the mission of my studio.
I reflect too on Canada's first-ever Day of Truth and Reconciliation, this past Saturday's National Coming Out Day and today's International Day of the Girl. It makes me think about how when we make room for a greater diversity of voices, we increase our ability to be more compassionate with one another, as well as increase our own ability to be more compassionate with ourselves. Above all, I am reminded of how each of us can contribute to righting past wrongs just by speaking up.
Power of Community
Over the years, my experience in working with hundreds of families has convinced me that there is strength and beauty to be found in community. When we learn and grow together, we find strength within ourselves and within those around us. We see our humanity reflected back to us by the people we share experiences with. As social animals, we have evolved brains that are nourished through our social connections. It is the foundation for how we think, feel and act.
Giving Thanks
This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for the inspiration I find in family, friends and others who challenge me to have bold dreams and to get back on track when I falter. I am grateful to be living at a time and in a place where someone like me gets to do the work that I am deeply passionate about. I am grateful that a new schoolyear at Thrive has been kicked off with love, hope and an abundance of joy. And I am grateful that there are people like you who continue reading my emails because we share a common desire to create a fairer, healthier and more loving world to hand over to the next generation. We need to know that there are others who stand along with us.
How do you give thanks?
