Another Thanksgiving is here, well, for all my U.S. readers anyway. All month long some have been focusing on gratitude affirmations of one kind or another. This is certainly a worthy and even healthy exercise. Have you been thinking a bit more this month about people and things you’re grateful for?
One thing I miss every year around this time is how the children in my classroom could always sum up the things they were most grateful for in a list of five things.
The list had to be limited to five things in order to fit onto the one hand which was so often traced around and turned into a Thanksgiving turkey gratitude hand. Undoubtedly, many of the turkey hands held similar lists. Things like parents, siblings, friends, pets, water and air generally took top billing. And sometimes teachers were included on the lists too!
All are things worthy of gratitude no matter what your age don’t you agree?
As we grow and evolve, our life circles expand, as does hopefully our sense of gratitude.
We add to the layers of our lives. We add to the layers of our gratitude too. We become grateful for many things and many people beyond that world when we were children.
Yes, with a bit of tending, love and gratitude can both keep “growing” throughout and within our lives.
And much like love, gratitude knows no boundaries.
Just as there is always room in our hearts for more love, there is also always room for more gratitude.
Every year I feel love and gratitude for more people and more things in my life. I hope you do too.
Every year it’s like adding another layer to my rings of gratitude.
To those who celebrate this holiday, and even to those who don’t, I’m hoping your Thanksgiving Day (and every day) is filled with much love and much gratitude.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
And thank you for reading Nancy’s Point. You, my readers, are among the many people and things I feel deep gratitude for.
Do you feel you have layers of gratitude?
Do you ever do gratitude affirmations?
What’s something you’re feeling gratitude for this November?
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Lindsay
Thursday 12th of December 2013
I try to be grateful for the things that really matter such as being alive, having family members that love me, having enough food and money and shelter to live, etc. But on Thanksgiving I felt thankful for the ability to travel, the ability to go hiking and to be able to spend time with the people I love (and my dog too!).
Beth L. Gainer
Thursday 12th of December 2013
Hi Nancy,
Well, it's no longer November, but I try to be grateful every single day of my life. We know how fragile life is. Too often I see people who gripe and complain all the time, without even acknowledging gratitude.
I think that classroom exercise is priceless. What a great idea for Thanksgiving -- well any day, actually.
And I'm grateful for Nancyspoint. Thanks for all you do.
karen sutherland
Monday 2nd of December 2013
dear Nancy,
what a timely post, and one on a subject that has always been near and dear to my heart. even in the worst, most darkest hours of our lives, there is something to be grateful for. I used to say a quick "thank you" for the things I noticed made me feel thankful. but now it is a more mindfully considered entity, one I savor and explore it's depths and affects on my mind, my heart, and my body. I practice gratitude in all it's glory, I think of how powerful it is to assuage sadness and grief, as each gift, each token, each glimpse at even a tiny star that pops out of what appeared to be a dark and cloudy sky at dusk. it gives me great pleasure and a wonderful sense of awe to express my gratitude to others who are faithfully by my side on a most unexpected path I now walk. and sometimes I say, as I am filling up with thankfulness, a little mantra - this is a gift for ME, this is what I do to help take care of myself. I feel it, I breathe it in, and I believe in it's power to heal, to enlarge my world that can sometimes feel quite small, especially when I am feeling alone. What a lovely thing to be able to dispense it generously to others, and allow myself it's private gift to me. and it is so akin to love in that same way - there is always room for more!
I love reading your blog - I learn so much from you and from all the great comments others write. and for that, dear Nancy, I feel very grateful for you and for your marvelous blog.
much love and light,
Karen xoxo
Nancy
Monday 2nd of December 2013
Karen, Thank you for your beautiful comment. Your wisdom and generous spirit are really something special. And thank you for your kind words about my blog. I am grateful for YOU. xoxo
Helensamia
Sunday 1st of December 2013
Sometimes we forget to be grateful but when ourAmerican friends are celebrating Thanksgiving it reminds us to be grateful too... Thanks for the timely reminder... Helen
Nancy
Sunday 1st of December 2013
Helen, Thanks for reading and taking a moment to comment. Perhaps we all need that reminder from time to time, right?
Weekly Round Up – The Thanksgiving Edition | Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer
Sunday 1st of December 2013
[…] that gratitude is not something that just happens, like so much in life, it needs a little work. Nancy has a beautiful reminder of this on her […]