What are you grateful for ?
As I finish off the last of my thanksgiving leftovers, I savor and enjoy.
It is only once a year that we make stuffing, cranberry sauce and French silk pie.
I think about how grateful I am for my mother’s wonderful cooking and think back to Thursday’s meal.
This year my mother decided to read a poem about gratitude and hand out questions to each attendee that we were required to answer.
My first thought was “really? Come on mom, so cheesy”
My question was: what material possessions are you grateful for?
The first thing that came to mind was the fact that I have a house, a roof over my head. A place that I can go to find comfort and safety.
This brought me back to a conversation that I had with clients back when I was working on an inpatient psychiatric unit in Brooklyn.
A client stated that they were looking forward to the day when they would own a key.
I was confused at first and inquired why a key.
The client proceeded to tell me that a key meant that you had a home.
A safe place that you could go to where you didn’t have to sleep with one eye open or worry about the cold.
Then I began to think about my clients where home isn’t a safe place. Where they do have to sleep with one eye open, try to be invisible, hide from the yelling, the hitting, the abuse.
This cascade of thoughts made me feel even more grateful for my home.
I felt warmth in my chest and in that moment, I felt happy and so privileged.
Can you imagine if we all took a few moments each day to reflect on a few things we are grateful for.
There is actually a lot of research that demonstrates that writing and focusing on things that we are grateful for on a daily basis increases our sense of optimism, overall sense of life satisfaction and can even reduce depression.
So how does one practice gratitude?
Here are some simple ideas:
1. Keep a gratitude journal: once a day write down 3 things that you are grateful for.
2. Say it: when you are grateful for something that someone did or said tell them.
3. Give thanks: if you are spiritual, perhaps thanking the deity of your choice for 1 thing (no matter the size) for which you are grateful.
For more ideas on gratitude practices click here for a 30 day challenge that I personally like.
Oh and thanks mom…… maybe it wasn’t so cheesy after all.
References:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_gratitude_changes_you_and_your_brain
https://ggsc.berkeley.edu/images/uploads/GGSC-JTF_White_Paper-Gratitude-FINAL.pdf
