Before You Were Here

Close your eyes for a moment and consider this:

Before you took your first breath, 13.8 billion years were spent preparing for your arrival.
Stars exploded to create the calcium in your bones, the iron in your blood, the oxygen you’re breathing right now. Galaxies collided. Planets formed. Life emerged from primordial oceans and spent four billion years evolving the exact nervous system you’re using to read these words.

Your ancestors (stretching back through countless generations) survived wars, plagues, famines, and heartbreaks so that you could exist. Every single one of them had to live long enough to reproduce. One broken link in that chain, and you wouldn’t be here.

The odds of you existing are so astronomically small that scientists can barely calculate it. One study estimated it at 1 in 10 to the power of 2,685,000.

And yet. Here you are.

Not by accident. Not by chance. By an incomprehensible sequence of events that can only be described as miraculous.

Thanksgiving… in its truest, most sacred form, is about recognizing this. Not just acknowledging it intellectually, but letting yourself be devastated by the stunning improbability of your existence.

The Forgotten Origin of Thanksgiving

Long before the Pilgrims, Indigenous peoples across this continent practiced harvest ceremonies… which are sacred rituals of recognition. They spoke of something we can often don’t consider: that taking from the earth without acknowledgement can create spiritual debt.

The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) had the Ganöhonyöhk, the Great Thanksgiving Address— a recitation that acknowledged every element of creation, from the smallest insect to the celestial bodies, thanking each for their contribution to life’s continuation.

The west can interpret this as superstition. But they believed it was cosmic consciousness.

They understood that everything is in relationship. That you cannot separate yourself from the web. That every breath you take is borrowed from trees, every meal is a death that sustains your life, every comfort is built on the labor of beings… the seen and unseen, who contributed to your survival.

Thanksgiving, then, is also a practice of remembering your place in the infinite exchange.

And when you truly remember, when you let yourself feel the weight of all that had to align for you to be here… your heart cracks open.

The illusion of isolation and separation shatters.

You realize you are not self-made. You are collectively held. By a divine intelligence that loves you enough to keep you alive.

The Consciousness of Lack

Your brain is an incredible pattern-recognition machine. It was designed to keep you safe, to notice threats, to protect you from danger.

And it’s really good at its job. So good, in fact, that it can sometimes get stuck in “scanning mode” and always looking for what’s wrong, what’s missing, what needs to be fixed.

Not enough time. Not enough money. Not enough love. Not enough success. Not enough recognition. Not enough peace.

Ancient humans survived because they paid attention to the rustling in the bushes, the shift in the weather, the subtle signs of danger. That negativity bias kept them alive long enough to eventually become you.

But you’re not stuck there.

Your brain is neuroplastic… meaning it can learn, adapt, and rewire itself. And when you consciously choose to shift your focus from what’s missing to what’s present, you’re literally creating new neural pathways.

You’re teaching your brain a new way to see. This is radical perception… acknowledging the fullness of what’s here. The struggle and the gift. The wound and the blessing. The loss and the grace.

When you train yourself to notice what’s working alongside what needs attention, your reality expands.

The Luxury of Being Alive Right Now

Before we go deeper, let’s pause and acknowledge something miraculous…

You woke up this morning in a world where most people can:

Turn a tap and have water pour over your body.

Open your eyes and see the beauty of nature.

Press a button and speak to someone on the other side of the planet, seeing their face and hearing their voice in real-time.

Light and warmth from the sun.

Open a box in your kitchen that keeps food cold indefinitely. Walk into a store and choose from 27 types of apples.

You have access to most human knowledge through a device in your pocket. You can learn anything, watch anything, connect with anyone, at any moment.

We are living in an era of staggering abundance.

Where miracles are normal, so let’s always remember to be amazed.

And potentially, this Thanksgiving is the day we remember to be astonished again.

What Recognition Actually Does

When you practice genuine recognition and gratitude, something shifts at every level of your being.

Neurologically: Your prefrontal cortex activates, allowing you to override your amygdala’s fear response. Your brain literally creates new neural pathways that make it easier to perceive abundance over time.

Energetically: Your electromagnetic field becomes coherent. The chaotic, scattered energy of anxiety transforms into a harmonious signal that others’ nervous systems can feel and attune to.

Spiritually: You align with what mystics call “receptive consciousness” – the state of being open to what is, rather than contracted around what isn’t.

The ancient Stoics knew this. Marcus Aurelius wrote: “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”

Not because life is always pleasant, because we know there are ups and downs. But because being conscious enough to experience it (even the painful parts) is the ultimate gift.

The Sacredness of Gathering

And then there’s the actual day itself.

The beautiful, messy, chaotic miracle of Thanksgiving. When we attempt to gather everyone we love into one space.

There’s something profound that happens when humans share a meal. Something ancient and holy that transcends religion or culture.

When you sit around a table with people you love (or people you’re learning to love, or people you’re related to by accident of birth), breaking bread together, passing dishes, telling stories, laughing at jokes that aren’t even that funny… you’re participating in one of humanity’s oldest rituals.

You’re saying with your body: I choose to be here. I choose to nourish myself alongside you. I choose connection over isolation.

And yes, it’s complicated. Family dinners always are. There will be awkward conversations and old resentments may bubble up and someone will definitely say something problematic… in my family, it’s always a different opinion on politics!

But there will also be moments of pure magic:

• The way someone’s face lights up when they tell you about their new obsession.
• The sound of your grandmother’s laugh… the same laugh you’ve heard your whole life and never want to forget.
• The moment when everyone goes quiet because the food is so good that talking seems like a waste of energy.
• The ridiculous inside jokes that make no sense to anyone outside your family but send everyone into tears of laughter.
• The feeling of being full… not just with food, but with presence, with love, with the simple fact of being alive and together.

This is what we’re here for. Not just the Instagram-worthy gratitude. But the real, embodied experience of choosing each other, again and again, year after year.

Even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.

Honoring the Complicated

Here’s a practice that takes real courage:

We understand that this time of year sometimes feels like an uphill battle too. Not everyone comes from a functional upbringing.

This Thanksgiving, can you bring into your heart the people you’ve had to distance yourself from?

Not to reconcile. Not to pretend the harm didn’t happen. Not to erase your boundaries or invite any toxicity back into your life.

But just for a moment… just this once… can you recognize the role they played in your becoming?

Maybe it’s the parent who couldn’t love you the way you needed. The friend who betrayed you. The partner who broke your heart. The family member whose words cut so deep you had to walk away.

We’re not asking you to forgive and forget.

But what if, just for today, you could hold space for a different kind of recognition?

That relationship taught me what I will no longer tolerate.

That heartbreak cracked me open in a way that allowed real love to finally enter.

That betrayal showed me who I am when everything falls apart… and I’m stronger than I knew.

That person was in my life for a season, and even though it ended painfully, they were part of my journey.

Some people are in our lives to love us. Others are here to teach us. And sometimes the hardest teachers bring the most important lessons.

You don’t have to invite them back. You don’t have to reach out or make amends or pretend everything is fine.

But you can, if you’re ready, release the weight of carrying their memory as only pain.

You can reframe it: “I release you. I honor what was. I’m grateful for who I became because of you and sometimes in spite of knowing you.”

Because when you can hold both the wound and the wisdom, when you can acknowledge someone’s impact without giving them continued power over your peace… freedom emerges.

That’s you, choosing your own healing over being right.

And that might be the most profound recognition of all.

Things We Forget to Be Amazed By, That Amazed Me…

Let’s remember how wonderful it is to be alive.

Here are things that are actually remarkable when you think about them:

• Your body is digesting food right now without you having to think about it. Your cells are communicating, your heart is beating, your lungs are breathing… all on autopilot. You are a walking miracle of biological intelligence that would take supercomputers to replicate, and you get to just… exist in it.
• Music exists. In moments of despair and euphoric joy… music has been a steady contribution. I mean, humans discovered that organizing sound waves in certain patterns could make other humans cry, or dance, or feel less alone? And we just accept this as normal. But wow, how amazing.
• Dogs chose us. I became a “Dog Mom” 2.5 years ago. She changed my life. Let’s think about it… wolves looked at early humans and thought, “Yeah, I’m going to hitch my evolutionary wagon to these creatures,” and now we have golden retrievers (and cockapoos in my case) who think you’re the best thing that ever happened, every single time you come home.
• You can close your eyes and visit entire worlds that don’t exist. Your beautiful imagination that is such a commonplace we forget it’s essentially a superpower. You can conjure entire realities in your mind… people, places, conversations, futures without leaving your chair.
• Chocolate. Someone figured out you could take the beans from a specific tree, ferment them, roast them, grind them up, add some sugar, and create something so delicious that entire industries were built around it. And then someone had the audacity to add peanut butter to it?! Come on, that’s just awesome!
• We’re on a rock flying through space at 67,000 miles per hour and you can’t feel it. You’re orbiting a massive ball of nuclear fusion that’s 93 million miles away, and it’s the perfect distance to keep you alive. Slightly closer? You’d burn. Slightly farther? You’d freeze. But it’s just right, and we call that “a normal Tuesday.”
• Babies laugh. No one teaches them how. They just instinctively know that joy makes this specific sound, and when they make it, it’s chemically impossible for you not to smile.
• The moon is the exact size and distance from Earth to create perfect solar eclipses. This is so statistically improbable that scientists call it “the cosmic coincidence.” But there it is, hanging in our sky for us to admire.
• You can hug someone and both of you feel better. Ok confession time: I’m a hugger. I LOVE hugs. And… physical touch releases oxytocin, lowers cortisol, regulates nervous systems … and we discovered this not through science but through instinct. Your body knew what it needed before your mind could explain it.
• Books exist. Someone can have a thought, encode it into symbols on a page, and you can decode those symbols years or centuries later and have the same thought in your mind. That’s telepathy. We just call it “reading.” And as a bookworm, this might be one of my fav inventions ever!

Take a moment today and let yourself be five years old again. Look at the world like you’ve never seen it before. Inhale the innocent wonder of reality. Of this life. This precious, beautiful life.

Because the truth is: every moment is new. Every breath is original. Every gathering is unrepeatable.

This particular Thanksgiving, with these particular people, in this particular moment of your life, this world of time, this dimension and reality… it will never happen exactly this way again.

So maybe let yourself be amazed.

When Thanksgiving Feels Impossible

Some of you reading this are in the center of suffering right now.

Maybe you’re facing a terminal diagnosis. Maybe you just buried someone you can’t imagine living without. Maybe your body is in chronic pain or your mind is drowning in depression. Maybe you’re terrified about money, about the future, about whether you’ll make it through this.

And here comes Thanksgiving, demanding gratitude like it’s an obligation you’re failing.

If that’s you, please hear this: It’s ok to rest in the depths of your pain right now.

Spiritual bypassing that forces gratitude over genuine grief is just another way we abandon ourselves. You don’t need to find the silver lining. You don’t need to make meaning from your suffering before you’ve even had time to feel it.

But I want to offer you something that helped me when I was in my own pit:

Even in total darkness, there are still small truths.

My heart is still beating.

Someone texted to check on me, even though I couldn’t answer.

The sun came up again, even though I didn’t ask it to.

I’m still here, which means something in me refuses to surrender completely.

These are just some tiny, stubborn acknowledgements that even in your collapse, existence continues. That even when you can’t feel it, you’re still held by forces larger than your pain.

The mystics called this “the dark night of the soul”

St. John of the Cross wrote that it’s in the deepest darkness that the soul is prepared for union with the Divine.

Your suffering is not evidence that you’re doing life wrong. It’s evidence that you’re alive enough to feel the full spectrum of what it means to be human.

And that, in itself, is a kind of miracle. We wrote a full blog about this… you can read it HERE

PRACTICAL TIPS

If you take nothing else from this, take this practice. It’s so simple you’ll be tempted to dismiss it. Don’t.

Every morning, before you reach for your phone, before you engage with the demands waiting for you:

Close your eyes.

Place one hand on your heart.

For 40 seconds (literally just 40 seconds) recognize something specific.

Not think about it. Not make a mental list. Feel it.

The warmth of your bed. The fact that you woke up. The sunlight coming through the window. The person sleeping next to you. The dog who’s happy you exist. The coffee that’s about to make your morning better.

Let yourself feel it in your body.

Let it soften your face. Let it slow your breath. Let it fill your chest with something warm.

40 seconds. That’s it.

We’d love to hear how it goes – message us in the Telegram channel and keep us updated! We’re always sharing stories and insights with each other!

And From TCCHE, Thank You, To Those Who Show Up

We need to end where we began. With recognition. Real, specific, full-hearted recognition.

To everyone who has been part of this community in any capacity:

We see you.

To those who read these blog articles and let them land somewhere deep. Who share them with someone who needs to hear them. Who send messages saying “this found me at exactly the right time” … we see you. You remind us this work matters.

To those who show up to events even when it’s inconvenient. Who drive hours or rearrange schedules or come exhausted because you know something shifts when we gather… we see you. Your presence creates the field.

To those who take courses and do the practices. Who don’t just consume content but integrate it, embody it, live it… we see you. You’re the proof that consciousness work actually transforms lives.

To those who challenge us, who ask hard questions, who push us to be more precise and more truthful… we see you. You make this work better.

To those who are holding space in your own communities. Who are doing this work in the quiet, in the margins, without recognition or applause… we see you. You’re altering the frequency of humanity in ways you’ll never fully comprehend but that matter more than you know.

And to those who just found this work. Who arrived through some strange sequence of clicks or a friend’s recommendation or an algorithm that felt like fate… welcome. We see you. Your arrival is not random. Youa re so welcome on this wonderful journey with us!

Every person who chooses consciousness over comfort, presence over distraction, truth over convenience… you’re evolving what it means to be human.

You matter infinitely.

And we recognize you.

Happy Thanksgiving, beautiful souls.

May you remember what the noise makes you forget: You are not alone. You are not random. You are exactly where the universe needs you to be.

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