Showing Gratitude and Being Intentional

Hi, and welcome back.

Thanksgiving is this week, and I want to jump on here and talk about gratitude.

I know there are a lot of mixed feelings about Thanksgiving but for me Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday.

I didn’t grow up with a whole lot, and there were times when I wouldn’t even get to eat a meal or even at all that day. When Thanksgiving came around and we all gathered at my grandparents house, and there was all this food, this abundance. It was overwhelming to say the least. It was always a happy memory for me as a kid. I didn’t have to worry about if I could get enough to eat because there was plenty, even for leftovers! And after lunch, us kids would go exploring on my grandparents land. They own a farm here in Texas, and I remember just running around for hours with my siblings and cousins amongst the horses, goats, and great Pyrenees.

So as an adult, when Thanksgiving comes around its a time for me to reflect and be thankful. This holiday is so underrated, and so over looked by the masses. Everyone is so ready to skip it and hop on over to Christmas.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas too. Its special for different reasons. But at the end of the day Thanksgiving has always held a special place in my heart, and the meaning behind it is so special.

Its a time to reflect, to be grateful for what we have, and to spend time with loved ones.

As you get older, and childhood innocence goes away you realize how complicated things and relationships can be. My Thanksgivings aren’t always blood related, but often a mix of close friends and some family. So as a little side note, don’t be afraid to reach out to friends and get together for a friendsgiving. You may be surprised how many friends are in the same boat as you.

Gratitude is something that we hear a lot but don’t genuinely feel often.

Think about how many times you say “thank you” to someone. At the grocery store for handing you the receipt, or on the phone at work. We all end a phone call saying thank you but do we genuinely mean it?

Are we thankful for their time?
Do we appreciate the value they bring to our lives?
Are we thoughtful of how we treat others who are in service to us?

Do we express our gratitude in a kind meaningful way, or just out of habit?

To touch on this a bit, I talk on the phones at my job. And at the end of a phone call, the ones you remember are the really kind people who take an extra second to tell you how helpful you have been and thank you. You always feel a bit warm inside, it makes you smile, and it brightens your day. This is something very miniscule. Its so small, and may be insignificant to them because I’m providing a service, its my job, but it makes my day.

I want to talk about this, because so often we remember the negative but don’t take the time to honor the good in our lives.

So I want to challenge you to start thinking about what it means when you say “thank you” and what are you thankful for when you say it.

I want you to relate a reason to your words. Think about why you’re grateful. If you can associate a reason to it, you are therefore being more mindful.

By being mindful you are one step closer to showing empathy in your daily life.

Having the ability to empathize is something I could talk about for hours. It is seriously missing from today’s world. We could all use a little bit more mindfulness in how we approach one another.

Everything we say or do in life should have meaning or purpose.

As a writer, or any other writers reading this you understand that the words on the page have meaning. They’re intentional. You wouldn’t add a scene, or a sentence simply for the sake of your word count.
No.
You want everything to add value to your book. Everything you write serves a greater purpose.

So why should we not take the same concept and apply it to our everyday lives? Why should we not think about the intention behind our words?

December is going to be a big month of reflection for me as this year comes to a close. I’m planning to take some time off to disconnect completely from others, and reconnect with myself and nature. I want to make plans moving forward into next year. But before I can do that I want to take the time to honor what I do have in a time where we all have lost so much.

We have lost connection, freedoms, the ability to leave our homes for some of you in certain states or other countries. So while its so easy to look at and focus on the negatives let’s take the time to see the good. Even if its something small.

And after you show gratitude for the good in your life. I challenge you to seek out the good in others. To show compassion.
To speak with intention and with purpose and not just for the sake of needing to speak, or needing to be heard.

I challenge you to be kinder to others, and remove judgements of them based on tiny bits of information from what you see on social media. I like to remind myself that we are not entirely who we post we are on the internet. We are so much more. We are complex. We all are multi-faceted creatures who at the end of the day just want the same thing: to be loved and accepted.

So I urge you during this hard time, to be intentional in your words, to always honor your purpose and yourself, and look to be evolving into the best version of yourself. Only you get to decide what that person looks like.

I hope you got something out of this post or heard a new perspective. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Or reach out to me on Instagram and tell me what you thought.

Thanks for reading!
Go out and be intentional.