The whirlwind of the holidays is quickly approaching with meals to plan, people to entertain, houses to decorate and gifts to buy.  In the midst of this joyous chaos it is easy to become overwhelmed and begin heading in too many directions, leading to feelings of less joy and more resentment.     Dear friends, one of the keys I have found in recapturing the joy and celebration in life during chaotic overwhelm, is simple gratitude.  Taking the time to be intentionally grateful for the blessings in my life. 

Gratitude is a practice that I began developing as a child but unfortunately wasn’t consistent with through the years. Yes, we would say grace before eating our evening meal together as a family and when my boys were young, bedtime prayers were said, but the words were spoken more as just a recitation and not from the heart.  Indeed, the boys would race through grace at dinner so often with a simple “God, thank you for this food” that I finally asked my oldest son to expand on the prayer.   Make it longer.  He valiantly complied with “Goooooooddd, thaaaaaaank youuuuuuuuu fooooooorrrrrr thiiiisssssss ffffffoooooddddd.”  It has been a story that has been shared throughout the family with many a chuckle and became a lesson for the future me.  

Through the years I made efforts to become more intentional with my thanks.  I did this by sending out thank you cards when gifts are received, acknowledging others when they have been kind or thoughtful and giving thanks for the people in my life. It was at this level my gratitude growth stopped for many years until I began reading about the healing and uplifting nature of a gratitude journal or daily gratitude practice.  And so, I implemented this, challenging myself to be thankful for three to five different things each day.  Soon after I began this routine I found I became stuck as my boys had been with the same simple thanks each day of family, a house to live in and food to eat.  Oh there was an occasional thank you for healing or the unexpected boon and while I did experience some healing of my perspective with the practice, generally the thanks given became routine.    

A few years back I was speaking with someone who had attended a conference about being mindful and present.  She shared with me how the speaker opened the conference with gratitude for the attendees, the promoters, the registration staff, his support staff, the safe travel for everyone, the people that had built the highways and cars for the travel, etc.  The thanks given lasted several minutes as he continued recognizing people and things that were far removed from the conference itself but had played a part in some indirect way.  It was one of those light bulb moments for me as I realized what was missing from my gratitude practice. Heartfelt intention.  As I adopted this new way of approaching what I was grateful for each day, I found not only did I find more to recognize but that joy and celebration became more abundant in my life. The sun rising in the morning, the bird song as I walk my dog, my husband’s smile as he greets me in the evening, the simple beauty of a sunset shared with another person all became moments to treasure and hold dear.   

In closing, dear friends, with Thanksgiving a blink of an eye away, I am reminding myself this is a time to be intentionally thankful and to embrace the moment.  It is a time to celebrate gratitude, dry turkey and all!

Wishing you much joy and celebration of your blessings on your heartfelt journey!  ~♥~