We don’t celebrate thanks giving in South Africa but as the world rapidly becomes smaller and our reality becomes a shared reality with the rest of the world, we have by default come to be aware of the American tradition of Thanksgiving.
November becomes the month of gratitude and thanks. If you have any online presence you can not escape the abundance of thankful-ness. And along with that come the “things I am thankful for” posts and tweets.
It is, I will admit, a very special time.
While my relationship with Oprah is a fickle one, one of the best things I think she did was to introduce the concept of a gratitude journal. Writing down, every day, 5 things you are thankful for can literally change the way you see your world. When I hit a dark day/week I force myself to find 5 different things every single day to be thankful for and your very quickly realise that by Friday you have 15 different things you have to be grateful for.
Gratitude is everywhere. It is not only in the dream house, goal weight and perfectly dressed and well mannered children. It is often everywhere else.
It is in the screaming, fighting children – they can speak.
It is the defiant child – she is wilful and spirited.
It is in the dirty counter he doesn’t wipe – he is at home with you.
It is in the piles of dirty washing – you are warm and can choose what to wear.
It is in the note from the teacher wanting to see you – she cares enough.
It is in the abuse hurled at a rugby ref – he has passion.
It is in the clothes left lying on the floor, the lid off the toothpaste, the shoes thrown down – they are being children.
It is in the moaning to a friend over a glass of wine – there is a friend and there is wine.
It is in the fight over who gets to spend Christmas with who – there is family.
Even when life is hard and unfair and overwhelming there is always gratitude. We may not always see it or acknowledge it but it’s always there.
We may not celebrate Thanksgiving by setting a table and cooking a turkey and pumpkin pie but we do give thanks.
We give thanks daily through the laughter we share with our friends and family, our full bellies every night, good night cuddles and kisses, Christmas carols sung too loud in the car.
Everything we do is a celebration of life and a giving of thanks that we get to experience another day. Even if the day is long and muscles are weary, we go to experience another day. There is thanks and gratitude in that.
5 Responses
So very true!!
Awesome post.
x
Awesome post!! I needed to read that after the fab weekend with Connor breaking windows and the dogs chewing my xmas decorations!
Great post, Laura.
I LOVE this post thanks for making it. I agree!!