If the beast of a year called 2020 has taught us anything, it is this: no matter how dark things may seem, there is ALWAYS something to be thankful for. I have so often caught myself focusing on what 2020 has taken from me: trips and vacations, experiences, crowded events, and family members we have lost. But other times I realize those things I “lost” have pointed me to those things I’ve had all along but didn’t stop to be grateful for every minute of every day: a safe place to call home, precious time with my family, and the joy of extended family and friends still alive and healthy. For everything 2020 may have “stolen” it has replaced with gentle simplicity. Things that were always there, we were just too busy to notice and reflect general gratitude for. Maybe all the chaos was meant to, in a way, reflect us back to the simple pursuits of life: a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear, a job to pay the bills, and family and friends to do life with. We may not have physically seen those we love in the past months, but the assurance of their health and the gift of technology keep us connected. The holidays may look and feel different this year, but our gratitude for life can and should grow the most during this time. Being grateful can flow from our emotions and feelings, but it’s also a choice, and one that can turn everything around for us, if we choose to focus on being grateful for what we do have. How do we find gratitude in the midst of a hard season? Is that even possible? Absolutely! Let’s look at NUMEROUS ways to turn a difficult season into a time of finding who and what we are thankful for.
Gratitude is a word we hear often, and one we are encouraged to show and experience in our life. So what exactly does it mean? The word “gratitude” comes from the latin root word gratiawhich means graciousness, gratefulness, and grace. Gratitude itself is an outward (and inward) expression of thankfulness, expressing appreciation and recognition to someone (or something) that has had an impact on one’s life making them grateful and wanting to express their feelings of the importance of the other’s generosity. What can being grateful and showing gratitude do for you, personally?
A negative frame of mind only sees the bad, but a positive frame of mind chooses to look past the negative and focus on the positive. When we focus our mind and attention on what we ARE grateful for, things fall into place in a positive way. So, in the midst of a dark season, what can we be grateful for?
Ways you can express gratitude to others and keep yourself in a grateful spirit:
This year has brought us more time at home, more time to think and recognize things and people we were too busy to appreciate, people that are truly essential to life and allowing us to live well.
Thanksgiving is more than a meal. It’s more than turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie; it’s what it’s very name is rooted in: Giving thanks, in ALL things, in ALL seasons, in ALL circumstances. Gratitude puts our focus on WHAT we have, the good things in our lives, and takes our focus off of what we DON’T have. There’s a popular saying that states, “we are what we focus on.” We can choose to find joy by focusing on the good things we have or we can live in anger and sadness by focusing on the things we don’t have. Loss of loved ones is real, it is hard, it has hit my family too, but those that we have lost would be the first to tell me to focus on who I have right here in front of me. Sometimes life is just plainly out of our control. If we choose to focus on that which we have no control, anger and frustration takes the front seat of our focus and our mood, in turn, takes a downward spiral. If we focus on the good things in our lives, we force that negative to the backseat, letting our gratitude and happiness be the driver. And THAT is the road I want to be on, always.
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Sources:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier
https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/60-things-thankful-for-life.html
https://www.wordstothriveby.com/gratitude-what-we-focus-on-expands/
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Dean-Paul Hart
November 25, 2020
Thanks, Lori, for this article. Thankfulness changes the way we view our circumstances and I want to stay on that road each day before, during, and after Thanksgiving!