A Thanksgiving Message
“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.”
Image Credit @jessica_flores
Much has been written in recent years about the power of gratitude. Many have attended seminars or webinars on the benefits of establishing a routine gratitude practice. The benefits are well-known and include reduced stress, improved sleep quality, increased happiness, pain relief, and decreased anxiety, depression, and negativity.
It's considered an easy practice to implement: Keeping a gratitude journal or gratitude jar, writing a thank-you letter or email, expressing thanks in person, taking a gratitude walk, or engaging in mental subtraction (by imagining what your life would be like if certain events or people weren’t there). Practicing gratitude is not difficult when things are going well. The tricky part is remembering to do it.
So, all in all, a reasonably easy coping tool—especially in the good times and the easy times. But, what of the other times—when it seems impossible to get through another day? When fear, exhaustion, and anxiety are immobilizing? When you’re sick, or sick and tired of nothing improving or changing? When you feel depleted, unneeded, unappreciated, unworthy, or disposable? When this isn’t the life you’d imagined? What’s to be thankful for in those times? And why bother?
Gratitude is not the cure-all for every situation or ailment, but in many circumstances, it can keep us afloat. Gratitude and anxiety cannot coexist because the brain cannot manage both at the same time. Specifically, our brain operates in either a sympathetic (fight-or-flight) or a parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) mode, according to health and fitness coach Cindy Stellar. More simply put, anxiety results in negative emotions, and gratitude results in positive feelings, and they cannot occur simultaneously.
There are many stories of well-known historical figures who were in dire circumstances yet remained grateful for the smallest things. I want to share a modern-day story of a psychotherapist who lost his ability to take oral nourishment, to function independently, or to continue his life's work, which was his passion. Here is his Thanksgiving Message written from his hospital bed in 2024:
“Maya Angelou said her grandmother taught her a priceless lesson as a girl that had served her well throughout her life: ‘If there's something in life you don't like, change it; if you can't change it, then change how you think about it.’
I hope you are able to cherish the delicious Thanksgiving meal for me. I hope you will cherish the time with family and friends, for me. I hope you celebrate the healthy functioning of your body, for me. I am profoundly grateful for….” and he goes on to list what those things are.
“I have so much more today than I ever had. I truly am a wealthy man. There’s not a turkey dinner in existence that competes. Happy Thanksgiving.” ~ Dr. Jay Martin
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