If I were a cynic, if I ran Thanksgiving week through the neurochemical rubric I’ve written about over the last few weeks (hello, dopamine!), this is how I might describe it:

Cram your family in a van. Travel to the someplace a distance away. Fuel your drive-time with the whizz-bang rush of caffeine.

Sit around the table. Eat till you can’t move. Wash it down with wine. Let the whizz-bang of tryptophan, the alcohol, the oxytocin do its thing. Let the dopamine lock in the message—”This is good!”

Fall asleep on the couch to a sportsball spectacle. Wake to some hearty discussions about politics or religion or sporting statistics. Drag yourself to bed for the evening. Drag yourself out of bed too early on Black Friday and snag the perfect doorbuster. The television. The PlayStation. The newer, bigger Instant Pot or Apple Watch or whatever. Let the whizz-bang of the deal set in and hear the dopamine whisper to your primal hunter-gatherer urge—”This is good!”

Eat the leftover pie before noon. Feel rush of sugared apples or cherries or pumpkins. Let the whizz-bang euphoria of Friday’s feast set in: “Isn’ this so so good?”

Take a long nap and let the Christmas consumerism wash over your dreams. This is the season of stuffing everything—turkeys, stockings, bellies. Whizz-bang, whizz-bang, whizz-bang. What a rush.

Sure, I suppose this is one way to look at Thanksgiving and the kickoff to the holiday season. But doesn’t it suck the life out of it? The humanity? The joy?

I’ll answer for you: Yes.

Sure, we need to be aware of what addictions, attachments, and dependencies the holidays might trigger. That’s what it means to live an examined life. But this week, I’ll also ask you to examine the beauty of food, wine, family, and the good stuff of earth. This week, I’ll ask you to push into examined practices of gratitude for it all.

Come along.

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A Word About These Posts

Over the next year, I’m creating a series of connected pieces, each of which will build on the previous posts. It’s a sober stream of consciousness that began with my Waking series. Where will it go? You’ll have to follow along to find out. So, if you’re not already signed up to receive my daily emails, you know what to do. (And while you’re here, consider picking up my books, Coming Clean and The Book of Waking Up.)