The Joyful Harvest

The Middle of January is the harvest festival. It is a time of holidaying and 3 days of joyous festivities. All the cities are empty as everyone goes off to celebrate in their villages. The U.S. celebrates Thanks Giving in September. Harvest is mainly associated with fruit and vegetables, for which we give thanks. This is the whole point of the Harvest Festival. The cattle’s are decorated, homes are painted, implements are cleared and everything is worshipped. In India, Makara Sankranti, Thai Pongal, Uttarayana, Lohri, and Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu in January, Holi in February–March and Onam in August–September are a few famous harvest festivals. In Britain, the last cart bringing in the harvest is decorated and the house festooned with garlands. This is the time for each of us to sit back and celebrate the successes in the four quadrants of our lives: personal, family, work life and social life. The Bible speaks of a ‘time to sow and a time to reap!’ This is your time to reap the results of all your hard work and acknowledge the joys, successes and high points of the past year. This is the time for gratitude for all your blessings. This is important as most of us are trained to find fault with ourselves and others. We know what is wrong, what has been done badly. We are trained to pick the smallest flaws in every action of our family and friends and even ourselves. During this season, eschew all such discounts and embrace affirmations and sincere appreciation. It is said that you need to given 10 affirmations to safely administer a single discount. Most of our daily balance sheets have the opposite. This year enjoy, celebrate and praise God for all the good news in your life! 1. Celebrate your hobbies with an exhibition for friends of fruits, paintings, music or stamps. 2. Celebrate your family with a get together, a website or a night out with all of them. 3. Write letters to those at work who helped you. Write to those who need comfort, give out little harvest gifts – fruit, wine, food. 4. Organize a coffee meet for your neighbours and friends. Sugarcane juice and other harvest goodies could be exciting add ones. 5. Start a daily thankfulness dairy. Record all things you are thankful for, every day. 6. Have a celebratory dinner for your family to celebrate all the achievements and blessings showered on each of you during the previous year. 7. Give a thanks giving gift to all the people who work for you and write a note celebrating their contributions. It is important on a regular basis to celebrate all the good things happening in our lives. While one can go on striving for future goals, honouring our past and present helps us to find the energy to move with determination into the future.