gratitude season
I plan my yin yoga themes every spring for the year ahead. For the past few years, I’ve made our focus of November gratitude (for obvious reasons). The fall is letting go season, a time to turn inward and reflect on those patterns, people, stories that are no longer serving us. In yin, we focus on surrender and grief (the emotion associated with fall) beginning with the fall equinox and throughout all of October. By the time November comes around, it feels right and good to turn inward and reflect on all that we have to be grateful for.
For years, I kept a gratitude journal - and by years, I mean, I started in junior high school because Oprah told me to, so I would do it for three days straight and then forget for a week. (Consistency is not one of my strengths!). Even kept sporadically, I think the practice of gratitude-keeping wore deep grooves in my mind and spirit.
These days, my ritual is to go over three specific things I’m grateful for each night before bed. How Jasper grabbed my hand during Mandalorian. Maeve making fun of Grant at dinner. Grant getting the burnt parts off of my favorite pot. Prayer is confusing and hard for me these days, but my gratitude list comes easy.
A few years ago, I jotted down this on a piece of paper:
I wrote more about it here years ago, but I have come to experience the truth of this formula more and more over the years. You have to find ways to practice mindfulness, whether that is as simple as putting your phone down and taking a few deeps breaths or sitting for twenty minutes on your meditation cushion. With more mindfulness comes more awareness of the present moment. And when you’re able to be present, gratitude seems to naturally gush forth.
So despite my gratitude practice looking a little different these days, I find that I experience more of it naturally when I’m also incorporating more set aside moments of mindfulness or even just simple silence into my day.
As we sit down to Thanksgiving tomorrow, we’ll go around the table and share what we’re thankful this year. My list will be long, but at the top of it, will be how this strange year has awakened me to how full and beautiful my life already is.
Rants and raves
Covid. I’m working on a separate blog post about our experience having Covid, but the TL;DR version is: even a pretty mild case sucks, you don’t want it, stay home.
Just the four of us Thanksgiving. I’m actually super excited about it being just the four of us for Thanksgiving. I’m making stuff that I want to make instead of stuff I feel like I should like this potato gratin, jalapeno cheddar skillet cornbread instead of dressing, my bacon Brussels, this recipe for all of the loads of Delicata squash we have from our CSA, and maybe this cheese and onion pie that I’ve had my eye on for awhile. Much more Thanksgiving menu inspiration in past posts at SBTS.
Small business Saturday. This year, more than ever, we need to be spending our holiday budgets at our favorite small businesses. I’m working on a small business gift guide, so send me your favorite small business suggestions, and I’ll add yours to the list!
Quotable
“If gratitude is an antidote for anxiety…and giving thanks is a real cure for stress — why relegate thanksgiving to a holiday when giving thanks can revolutionize our whole lives?” Robert Emmons
Worth sharing this week
My older post on decolonizing your Thanksgiving with lots of resources to help.
Since so many of us are changing up our Thanksgiving plans this year, I loved these printables for kids to ask their grandparents and the Thanksgiving Madlib (link at the end of the post) my mom made a few years ago - both of which would be great Zoom or Facetime activities.
“We are all just raw sacks of meat” right now. This made me feel a lot of things, but mostly understood.
Speaking of last week’s fun newsletter, I read and loved Boyfriend Material last weekend.
This x100:
Periodic reminder that a good and healthy instinct that many of our bodies have is to store energy in times of stress. And now is stressful. This may be even more true as it gets colder. If your body is putting on weight right now, thank it. It’s protecting you.Seasonal pic of the week
The kids were very not thrilled about the return to elearning. Unpictured: the even less thrilled parents.
Cheers to practicing giving thanks this week - and throughout the year!
Sara
