Gratitude

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it doesn’t come with all the pressures of Christmas and gifts. We all come together over good food and give thanks. I like the rituals of inviting loved ones to join us and how we all want the same dishes from year to year or it just doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving. After everything that’s happened, I think we could all use a little comfort. I notice I find comfort in small moments of gratitude. Maybe gratitude is how we heal ourselves and each other.

I recognize gratitude is good for my well-being and even my physical and mental health. Specifically calling out and naming what I appreciate about someone or a circumstance naturally attracts more of it into my life. Isn’t that what we all need?

I sometimes express gratitude through paint in my art. It’s in my photos when I catch a special moment in nature and even in the simple noticing of what’s around me. I want it in my words and how I compliment people where I see them take care. It’s in naming the attributes of others out loud in the moment that they express those attributes. It’s in small acts of service and actions that recognize the circumstances of others.

I’m not advocating that we bury our grief or deny our feelings to rush to the positive. I am exploring…contemplating all the different ways to express gratitude overtly and covertly because the real power to change my own perspective and maybe even our world comes from expressing gratitude, doesn’t it? It’s the expression of gratitude that makes it real—that makes it live in the world. Is this how we put actual goodness in the world?  I don’t know, but I know we could all use a little more goodness.

Maybe we all feel gratitude when we can stop long enough to think about it. But can you imagine if all of us EXPRESS more gratitude? Would we experience life in an entirely different way? What would we see around us? In people? Would we feel more seen and less alone? Would hard circumstances actually be less hard or at least feel less hard? What if we used our social media to express gratitude more frequently?

I miss opportunities to express my gratitude far too often. I’m trying to be able to see those opportunities and choose to express whatever gratitude I can muster. I’m not always in the mood when I’m frustrated and impatient. I forget to allow that not everyone sees the world the same way I do and that their experiences have given them an entirely different perspective.

I'm making a list of all the ways I can express my gratitude—not just feel it—because maybe…just maybe if I can keep it simple and focus on expressing gratitude in the little pockets I can find, maybe that can change my heart and maybe even my little part of the world. What do you think? Want to join me?