Yesterday was really warm down south, the World Cup seems to be getting more coverage than Santa (he should have a word with his PR team) and Black Friday has taken centre stage.
But last Thursday was Thanksgiving in the USA and I think that is actually a lovely holiday. Very similar to Christmas in terms of food for Americans, but without the hoo ha of presents and the ability to see friends if you prefer. In short, more of what it should be about.
One of my sons lives in America and he was lucky enough to be invited into three family homes on Thursday to celebrate – how kind of them to invite a foreigner into their private world on such a special day for them.
It got me reflecting on a few things. How sometimes we can be the welcoming nation, opening our homes to refugees and sometimes we are the ones in need, the people who have nowhere to go on certain holidays unless the kindness of others includes us.
Anyway, the point is that Thanksgiving was originally a celebration created by the first Pilgrims to give thanks for their harvest which was also attended by Native Americans. It was that crossing of boundaries, the coming together which was as important as the harvest not failing. Now, I completely get that perhaps these feelings of warmth didn’t last but the idea was right.
I often think that we all need to adopt more of an “attitude of gratitude” than we do. Oprah said “I live in the space of thankfulness — and for that, I have been rewarded a million times over. I started out giving thanks for small things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased. That’s because — for sure — what you focus on expands. When you focus on the goodness in life, you create more of it.”
In my own small way I try to live like that and actually, it really does change your mindset. Every day I wake up and the first thing I do is think of three things I am grateful for from the previous day. It gives me a few moments to reflect on how lucky I am. They’re not big things, it could be as small as “I’m grateful for a lovely walk in the Sun”. Frankly we’re all grateful for it these days with the amount of rain going on – I’m thinking should I be building an Ark but as we live at the top of a hill we might have a few days left before we’re washed away.
I digress but the point is try it. There is a huge body of evidence that if you can adopt even a few moments of gratitude it can change you to a more positive outlook on life and more receptive to good things happening. Now, isn’t that worth a try?
Belated Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrated.
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