Opinion/Brown: Love, thankfulness, meditation and a meaningful life

This is Thanksgiving weekend and I want to think about that with you. Day after day, the media never lets us forget how many things we have to be scared and angry about. No matter what I say to you today, these things will not be going away. But meanwhile, what do we have to be thankful for?

Remember, I have no idea what's going on in any of your lives, what burdens you might be carrying. For example, I just got hit by a car. It really hurts. But — and this really counts — I might be dead.

Let's start here. We're not dead. Happy Thanksgiving! How can you tell when someone isn't dead? They're still breathing. So that's a good place to start. Most practices of meditation start with a breath. Having a rough day?  Wanna calm down? Then turn off all the electronics. Get quiet. Just breathe and pay attention to it.

Listen to your breath. Feel your breath and calm down. You're not dead. This breathing thing is a big deal. Ask anyone who has lost someone they love. At the heart of it, love is just wanting to be with someone. Even puppies and pussycats with brains the size of a walnut understand this. Just to be in the room with someone … just to hear them breathing can be more than enough.

So breathing — being alive — brings us to love. Love is the next big thing to be thankful for. That's why lonely people often get pets. Love is being glad to see someone.

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Love is missing someone, and then when they arrive, love is almost jumping up and down, even piddling a little on the floor if you're a dog … just because the one you love is there with you.

In 1630, the Rev. John Winthrop addressed his tiny Puritan congregation not far from here, and in his sermon, he said something truly wonderful.

“To love and live beloved,” he said, “is the soul’s paradise on earth and in heaven.”

So let's give thanks for love.

We know that when souls are not loved when we don't think we matter to anyone, we wither inside ourselves. We can even want to die.

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So the next important thing must be meaning. Stripped of meaning and hope for the future, all work is suffering. We have to give thanks for meaningful work, for the things we do in our lives that we know are important to others.

Among other things, I teach photography. To my young students and even my old ones, I tell them the same thing. Always look for what is interesting, for what is beautiful and good. See those things in others, and your camera will see them too. See what is beautiful and good in people, and they will feel it.

This is especially important for children. When you see these things in them, it creates an open space in front of them that they can expand into. Seeing these things changes people for the better.

We have to love each other. It has to matter to us what other people want and what other people are afraid of. We have to be tuned to the frequencies of other people's suffering.

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What's true in photography is true about life. If we don't look, we won't see. If we don't see, we won't feel. If we don't feel, we won't act. And if we don't act, nothing will change for the better.

Let's give thanks that we're alive. That we're breathing. That we are loved — and capable of loving. That we are surrounded by things that are beautiful, interesting, and good. That we have been given meaningful work both as souls and as human beings.

I don't know if you believe in God or not. I do. If God cared most about doctrinal purity, the world would be like a library, orderly and quiet. But no. It's crazy down here. You can barely hear yourself think.

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I think we're here to love this place, and to the extent, we can learn how to do this, we are rewarded with higher work. We don't love other people out of desire. Let's face it, some people are really annoying. So we have to base our love on policy. We wake up every morning deciding to greet every person we meet with gentle benevolence. And we wake up grateful — grateful to be awake, grateful to be with each other, grateful for another chance to do something meaningful and good in the world.

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving. God bless you.

Lawrence Brown is a columnist for the Cape Cod Times.  Email him at columnresponse@gmail.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Love, meaning and the art of being thankful for things that matter