Each year at the Oak Park Church we select an overarching idea that is the catalyst for conscious evolution of our thinking patterns. This year was designated "the year of happiness," and it seemed like a good idea at the time. I say this because through the history of this practice, one thing we look forward to is opportunities to deepen our understanding of what we say we want. This deeper understanding usually comes through some not always foreseen dissipative structures.

I began the year thinking that happiness would mean doing more of what I want to do and less of what I did not particularly enjoy doing. Now I see that happiness as subtraction is not the way to go. It is much better to figure out why we are not enjoying our own creations than to try to get rid of them. My job, my boss, my family, my income, my opportunities are a reflection of my thinking. So, to have more of what I would enjoy more, I need to figure out what I must be thinking about me and about them that prevents me from enjoying myself. We need to ask ourselves: How am I giving that which I am getting back that interferes with my happiness? Do I believe that I am adequate enough to handle my responsibilities?

One important consequence of pursuing happiness as subtraction is that it interferes with the money in our experience. From the point of view of our Principle, doing less means that we need less, and so money tends to go in the direction of less as well. Remember the sound prosperity adage, "If you want more money, you have to have a clear and definite ideas of what you intend to do with it." Money must have a purpose other than our own security. To have our peace of mind rest on the fact that we have enough money in the bank to take care of ourselves is a sin, a mistake. For true and lasting peace of mind, our confidence and trust must be placed in the Reality of Being, in Life Itself, in our freedom and power and our ability to use it effectively to live the life we want to live, which by the way is the foundation of happiness.

Now, if we do not enjoy being responsible for what is going on in our life (and responsibility, by the way, begins and ends with giving good direction to the Law, our faithful and supremely capable Servant) and have the attitude that one more responsibility (one more thought, a different thought) is just one more chore, one more burden for us to bear, we find ourselves in the curious situation with regard to money. Since more money means more responsibilities, money then becomes something opposed to our happiness. This frame of mind says that it is better for us not to have more money if we are to have a chance at being happy. But we are happiest with money, so while we are resisting our responsibilities we end up with neither, no money and no happiness.

I think we can all agree that we are happiest with money. But, money means responsibility. With more money comes greater circulation, more activity, more paperwork, more business relations to cultivate, more decisions to make, therefore, we need to get the consciousness of loving our responsibilities so that we can joyfully accept more of them. How do we learn to love our responsibilities? We need to get the feeling that we are very capable of handling our affairs and that we are well enough endowed to do it successfully. We need to accept the truth that we are surrounded by a loving and a friendly universe that supports us; that everything and everyone in it wants us to have our good the way we want it. No matter where we go, we will never run into anyone more friendly, more supportive, more enthusiastic or more hostile to what we want than we are. We are the measure of our happiness.

Choose to be happy with money. Learn to love being responsible which means, being responsible for what you will choose to think. Thinking is all the doing we are capable of anyway. We are responsible for what we think. And as we know better, we do better, so, unconditionally love yourself and everything you create. Happiness begins here.

No birds, no flowers, no butterflies, no bees,
No, No, No, No, No—November!  This common sentiment about this time of year is my paraphrase of a poem by Thomas Hood.

Clyde Watson, another poet adds, "With night coming early, And dawn coming late . . . The earth sinks to rest until next spring."

The year has turned its circle,
The seasons come and go
The harvest all is gathered in
And chilly north winds blow
Orchards have shared their treasures,
the fields, their yellow grain,
So open wide the doorway—
Thanksgiving comes again!

The antidote to the chilly No, No, No of November, is the Yes, Yes, Yes of our grateful hearts. It is true that it is easy, or easier, to be grateful when the storehouse is full of provisions for the coming winter, but what if the supply seems a little sparse? What if the outside opportunities for making money have dwindled, for example. How can we keep from worry? How can we feel grateful when we are full of "good" reasons to worry?

When we feel we have cause to worry is the time to remind ourselves of the Principle that governs our experience which says that: Power flows and increases that to which we give our attention. It brings us back to our senses when we realize that what we give our attention to, that we increase in our experience! So when we focus on lack, whatever that may be, we are increasing the experience of lacking that particular thing. This is why nobody has ever, or will ever, get ahead of their challenges by worrying.

Thanksgiving is the tried and true way of increasing good in our experience. It is right use of Principle. At a time when the outside offers little or no hope of providing more than what we have already harvested, we can turn within and use the power that will increase what we give our attention to. So, instead of complaining or worrying which can only increase reasons to complain and worry, we can choose to appreciate all the good that we have in our life right now and the power will flow and increase  good in our experience. Simple? Yes! Easy? NO. It takes commitment, persistence, discipline, willingness to stand alone and think independently of  the majority opinion, but the rewards are worth it.

So, why wait until Thanksgiving Day to be grateful, to appreciate, and to praise all the good that is in you right now, and all the good that you possess right now.  More money will not cause you to love yourself more. But greater self love, greater appreciation of who you are and what you have will cause you to have more for which to be grateful on Thanksgiving Day.