Thanksgiving Holiday Reflections - Svadhyaya (Yoga Ethics) or “Self-Study” cover art

Thanksgiving Holiday Reflections - Svadhyaya (Yoga Ethics) or “Self-Study”

Thanksgiving Holiday Reflections - Svadhyaya (Yoga Ethics) or “Self-Study”

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 https://secretspirits.com/2025/12/02/thanksgiving-holiday-reflections-svadhyaya-or-self-study/ Welcome. How was your holiday? For today’s episode, let’s employ one of our most valuable tools, the tool of Svadhyaya (Yoga Ethics) or “Self-Study”. Together, we will review the events of the holiday, the holiday weekend, and reflect on our emotions, our reactions, our behaviors and OUR choices. Recall the mission of Secret Spirits, to support the wives, partners, girlfriends of addicts and alcoholics – to guide YOU toward your own awakening. To illuminate the truth and demonstrate a better way. With that, let’s dive in. Intention with Your Surroundings First, let’s ensure we are ready for self-reflection. Are you comfortable?If you journal, ensure you have a clean fresh page and pen.Do you need to dim the lights?Do you need to put some soothing music or sounds on?Do you need some coffee or tea? Let’s Begin with an Overview of the Holiday, a Reminder of Sorts The holiday originated in 1621, a harvest feast between the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag tribe. The Plymouth colonists struggled through their first year; the Wampanoag people helped them by sharing valuable knowledge of the land and its resources. When the colonists had their first successful harvest, they held a feast to celebrate and give thanks. The Wampanoag people were invited to share in this three-day harvest festival, which included deer, fowl, seafood and other foods. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on the last Thursday of November. Of course, we could go deeper into the history of the holiday, but that’s not why we’re here. We’re here to continue on our own journey of awakening. Thoughtfulness on Your Holiday After reviewing the brief overview of the history of the holiday of Thanksgiving, a reminder of the purpose of the celebration. I have some questions to kick off our episode of self-reflection. For today, I will first pose the question before providing my own reflective response. How do you feel, right now, on the other side of what can be a very stressful weekend? I’ll share how I feel. I am relieved to have navigated this first holiday of the holiday season. It wasn’t as smooth or effortless as I would have liked. That’s why today’s exercise in self-reflection is so important to me. I want to identify the pitfalls in my behaviors, moods, and expectations and course-correct for the coming Christmas holiday. What was the HARDEST part of the holiday from as TASK perspective? I had trouble managing timing on the Thanksgiving holiday. I wanted to make a beautiful french pastry to contribute to the family meal. I had this vision in my head of arriving with a somewhat exotic pastry in hand as my contribution. I thought making the dish would be a bonding moment for my daughter and me. I failed to read the directions for all the components, and my pastry dough was frozen when I needed to assemble it. While trying to troubleshoot that aspect, I became rushed and sloppy. I through the dish together in a hurry and was so displeased with its appearance. I refused to bring it as an offering to the meal. I can see now how that was a decision in DIRECT OPPOSITION to the meaning of the holiday. Not the example I am striving to set for my children. What was the HARDEST part of the holiday from an EMOTIONAL perspective? (deep breath) This is a complex question for me at this moment. I found myself feeling very grumpy before the Thanksgiving dinner. In reflection, I can see how my feelings of discourse were directly tied to the expectations I had of my husband’s behaviors. A phantom limb sort of reaction, a deep sense of repetitive behaviors looming at the evening’s Thanksgiving dinner table. I expected my husband’s ability to “cope” with being surrounded by HIS family to be challenged. And guess what, I was right. He failed to cope in a healthy manner. He has admitted to smoking his “vape” (against my house rules) the night of the Thanksgiving dinner. In reality, I believe he engaged in his disease. I believe he took more of his prescription medication than he is directed to by his team of physicians and psychiatrists. This is something that, now that my kids are back in school for the day, I have time to ruminate on, and consider what tools are available to me. If you have been listening to this podcast for several weeks, you may have gleaned that my husband is living separately from the kids and me. He is in a sober living environment, where he is drug and alcohol tested regularly. So my first call this morning, after school drop off was to the family coach at his sober living environment, to alert them to my beliefs of his behaviors, and request testing for specific types of use. After placing that call, I release any responsibility or thought on the subject. I give that to the team in place, and know that if my husband is ...
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