Thanksgiving has been my favorite of the US holidays for some time. I’ve written about it several times over the years.

When I am away for the holiday, I have used the following Rumi quote as my auto-reply message at work:

Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life.

This year, though, has been extremely hard, following several other years that I swore were the hardest. The hits: they keep on coming.

This year, a different Rumi poem rings true:

Who makes these changes?
I shoot an arrow right.
It lands left.
I ride after a deer and find myself
Chased by a hog.
I plot to get what I want
And end up in prison.
I dig pits to trap others
And fall in.

I should be suspicious
Of what I want.