Tomorrow is the day American's celebrate Thanksgiving. As I am American, we always recognize this holiday although living in England, we unfortunately do not get to benefit from the holiday time off work, so we celebrate at the weekend. Our Thanksgiving day will be this coming Sunday. We are inviting family and friends and preparing traditional Southern Thanksgiving meal.
Thanksgiving always had a special significance for me growing up. It was a time that all my extended family from far and wide would gather at my grandparents' house. It was only on Thanksgiving that we did this. I always remember watching football, playing football with my cousins, tuning into the televised Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade and my great Aunt's waldorf salad and "heavenly hash" - not as intoxicating as it might sound as it's a blend of fruit with marshmallow fluff and coconut shavings.
I am thankful for having these memories and being able to continue to share this tradition with other people who normally wouldn't experience this. Just wish I could get them out in the field to pass around the pig skin too!
Thanksgiving is so much more than family, friends, football and food, it's really the spirit of being Thankful for everything that matters most. Gratefulness or gratitude is one of the most powerful mindsets we can cultivate in our daily lives. Being thankful is not just for special occasions!
It really is about an 'attitude of gratitude' - when we are thankful for all we have, we get more to be thankful for. This is not about magically attracting 'stuff' into your reality through cosmic forces, it is about being here now and feeling grateful for being alive, for everything you have, even the challenges - when we are in this state we are open to possibilities to grow and tap into opportunities we would have otherwise missed by looking at the lack or what is perceived to be missing in our lives.
A recent study (Toepfer, S. M., Cichy, K., Peters, P. Journal of Happiness Studies, published online April 2011) suggests that there are strong psychological benefits to expressing thanks to people on a regular basis.
Researchers divided 219 adults into two groups. Each week over four weeks the participants were asked to report their levels of gratitude, happiness, life satisfaction, and depressive symptoms. In the subsequent weeks half of the participants wrote letters of gratitude to someone they knew to express appreciation whilst the other half did not.
Over the course of the study results show that happiness and life satisfaction increased significantly whilst symptoms of depression decreased for the writing group and there was no significant change for the non-writing group. The findings suggest that gratitude may just be a fixed quality, but the action of writing with gratitude generates overall positive feelings that increase happiness and life satisfaction and reduced the chances of developing depression.
To be more grateful, you can begin to consider 3 things each day that you are grateful for. Do this in the morning before you arise and in the evening before you sleep. Practiced consistently, you will feel happier and more contented in life.
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