To celebrate Thanksgiving today, let’s push aside all lingering resentments and negative thoughts. We all feel as though we have missed opportunities or chances at greatness at one point or another. This is the perfect time of the year to let go of all of this and focus on what you are truly grateful for.
Sometimes, the simplest things can be the most meaningful. Just do what’s right for you and you’ll enter the holiday season with a positive mind and spirit.
- Be Thankful
That’s what gratitude is—thankfulness. Acknowledging simple pleasures and living life fully present shifts our focus so life becomes about what we have, not what we lack. Even the simple act of saying thank you to someone makes you—and them—feel better. “If the only prayer you say in your life is ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.” – Meister Eckhart
- Lists can be lifesavers:
Not only to help you remember all the hundreds of little things you have to do at this crazy time of year, but writing things down is very cathartic. Frustrated over something, write it down and let it go. Feeling a little blue, write down all the good things in your life. Every day, be grateful for one thing, however small, however insignificant you think it is—when you look back, you’ll realize just how big that list is! Practicing gratitude raises your “happiness set-point” according to Dr. Emmons in his book “Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier”
- Practice Generosity
This is not about donating money, although that can’t hurt, this is about giving to others to help you connect with how fortune you really are. Just by giving something, a compliment, a kind word, your undivided attention (turn off that smart phone), a supportive email, a phone call where you really listen, or your time. Your generosity will be uplifting and will perpetuate a cycle of generosity, and gratitude.
- Declare Your Thankfulness
We all forget to tell someone how grateful we are to have them in our lives. It’s not that we mean to take them for granted, we just do. Stop, take a few minutes and let them know. Not just because it’s Thanksgiving, but just because. It will fill their heart and yours.
- Look Up
Living your life with your head towards the ground can get you down. Really. When you lift your chest, straighten your shoulders and hold your head high you will notice an instant change in your state of being. Energy will flow more freely through each energy center up your spine. You will bring yourself from a passive or complacent place to an “I got this” place. This simple act of engaging with the world will help create presence in your life. Try it really quick. Lift your head up, look around, notice everything. The fact that you are seeing, breathing and alive, well that’s a lot to be grateful for.