I’m Full: Grateful & Thankful

“In everything give thanks.”   I Thessalonians 5:18 

“Enough is as good as a feast.”    Mary Poppins 

Gratitude is a strong feeling of appreciation to someone or something for what they have done to help you. I’ve heard it said that you cannot be angry and grateful at the same time. Gratitude displaces anger. Gratitude brings with it positive mental and physical responses, instead of negative ones, such as those triggered by the fight and flight response. Gratitude changes our brains. Research shows that gratitude unshackles us from toxic emotions and has lasting positive effects on our brains.  

Gratitude is Transformative 

I started keeping a gratitude journal about 7 years ago. This turned out to be more practical for me than the journals I had been sporadically keeping over the years. My goal is to write at least 3 things I’m grateful for daily, which realistically turns out to be 2-4 times a week.

I may not be able to see something positive in my day at first glance, but this motivates me to look for the good, even on the rough and disappointing days. It helps me to look for what Karen Salmansohn calls the “blessons.”  When you see the blessing in a painful lesson, that’s the “blesson.” Those are as important as the blessings.  

Author Ann Voskamp writes about how a friend of hers challenged her to write one thousand things she was thankful for and how this experience changed her life. She encourages others to live a life of “thanks-living.”  

I attended a full-day seminar on gratitude with M.J. Ryan, the author of Attitudes of Gratitude. She began the day by asking us to raise our hands if we felt stressed. Almost all 200 participants raised their hands. She then encouraged us to sit back in our seats, close our eyes, and relax. She played the song, “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. After the song finished, she asked us to raise our hands if we felt less stressed than we did previously. Almost everyone raised their hands. She pointed out to us that we could change our stress level in just 3 minutes by changing our focus. It was a compelling lesson about the power of gratitude, good thoughts, and music.  

Growing up, we said grace before each meal. “Bless us, oh Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive, from thy bounty, through Christ our Lord, Amen.” As an adult, I learned that many families ask a blessing or give thanks, in their own words. Pausing to give thanks, saying grace, or asking a blessing before meals helps to focus our attention on gratitude. We give thanks to God, the farmers, all those who had their hands in bringing our food and preparing it for us. It is a pause that helps us to eat our food more mindfully, with a heart of gratitude.  

This year, let’s keep the spirit of Thanksgiving all year.

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