In this week’s blog post, we briefly look back at how the Thanksgiving holiday started and what happens when we choose to embrace a gratitude mindset.
What we can learn from the past:
Thanksgiving was claimed an official holiday in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln in the middle of the US Civil War. Since then, it is celebrated in the United States every year on the fourth Thursday of November. As indicated by its name, Thanksgiving traditionally places much of its focus on feeling thankful and taking the time on the special day to give thanks for everything we get to have. While many prefer to keep an idealized view of the first Thanksgiving as a sign of peace and friendship between the Pilgrims and Native Americans, we must acknowledge for our humanity’s sake the role of colonialism in North America and the oppression and displacement of the Native Americans. Remembering what actually happened helps us learn from our past mistakes. Acknowledging the suffering that was endured for greed, land, and profit is essential to helping us realize how we can change our ways and work on repair. The holiday does not have to just be about being thankful in principle, it can extend to our every-day actions too if we choose to lead with intention and embrace a grateful mindset.
“We learn the magical lesson that making the most of what we have turns it into more.” Melody Beattie
When we show up each day trying to be a good person and nurture our community, it fuels us to do more and be more. We learn that when we take care of the things/people we are grateful for, we get in return feelings of love, peace, safety, and belonging.
What can happen to us when we are grateful?
There is actually a study that was done by two professors of psychology and brain sciences at Indiana University, Dr. Joshua Brown and Dr. Joel Wong. They discovered that “simply expressing gratitude may have lasting effects on the brain.”
They discovered four findings:
- Gratitude unshackles us from toxic emotions
- Gratitude helps even if you don’t share it
- Gratitude’s benefits take time and increase with time
- Gratitude has lasting effects on the brain
According to the study, practicing gratitude helps train the brain to be more sensitive to the experience of gratitude down the line, and this contributes to improved mental health over time. They conclude their study by stating that “much of our time and energy is spent pursuing things we currently don’t have. Gratitude reverses our priorities to help us appreciate the people and things we do.” This is hopeful because it shows an example of neuroplasticity where you clearly see the ability of the brain to form and reorganize synaptic connections. The fact that we can create new wirings in our brains on a daily basis is empowering. The way we breathe, what we think about, what we learn about, it all counts! It all contributes to helping us grow and flourish!
Personally, I think it comes down to each of us showing up as our kindest selves. Starting our day anchored by a strong gratitude for everything we do have right at this moment, and then putting forward our best effort to express the gratitude into words of affirmation and helpful actions. What can we do for the people we are grateful for? How can we be a force of love and kindness today? How can we show our love and gratitude today? How can we share what we are grateful for? There is not one right answer here. Everyone will know what the next right thing is for them. It can also be as simple as holding the door for the person behind you, sending a thoughtful text to a friend, listening quietly when a loved one needs to share something that weighs heavy on their heart. When we use gratitude as our lens, we can view the world with a different mindset. Our focus sharpens around love, connection, kindness, and hope. This can be so uplifting and empowering. The insightful writer Melody Beattie offers us a detailed definition of gratitude that explains this phenomenon very well:
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
It turns problems into gifts, failures into successes, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events.
It can turn an existence into a real life, and disconnected situations into important and beneficial lessons.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
I know that life can get busy and stressful. Sometimes I run around all day and wonder what really happened to my day when I am finally laying down in my bed. This usually tells me that I did not take any time to check in with myself during the day. Gratitude is a mindful practice. It is not constant or perfect. We have to tune into it. Sometimes our egos get in the way and that is okay. When we notice it, all we have to do is tune back into it. When we feel stressed, alone, frustrated by our lack of, or our wanting more, maybe the right thing would be to take a pause, regroup and think of what we are grateful right now. I know that when I start my day by taking slow deep breaths and by thinking about three things, I am grateful for, something shifts inside of me. I realize what really matters. I soften and look for connection. I feel more in tuned with myself and that allows me to be more present and happier. I am not running away from myself. I feel grounded, grateful and eager to be here in the moment. Embracing a gratitude mindset can make a big difference and affect the quality of our day. It can also create a snowball effect of gratitude among our loved ones and our community.
The seed of gratitude starts as a thought, it grows as an intention and blossoms into a rich and deep life filled with love and connection. Let’s imagine if we all planted it and nurtured it a little bit each day…what would happen in a year? How would our life change?
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