Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, an opportunity to gather with family and friends and focus on what you're grateful for.
What are you grateful for?
@AvidCareerist - "Feeling thankful this morning for the love that has graced my life, both in the giving and the receiving. A full heart on a snowy morning."
@SharonEden - "What I'm thankful for right now is the blessing of being and feeling sooo alive!"
@togetherwf - "Thankful to learn that there are so many good people who are kind and caring through Twitter. It gives me hope for a better world."
@mousleyki - "I am thankful for my beautiful wife of 20.5 years and my lovely 16 year old daughter."
@ValueIntoWords - "Despite an often noisy, uncomfortable world, I'm so thankful for the freedom to locate and revel in tranquility."
@PracticalWisdom - "My Tweeter Pals Accept me as I am and Expect me to be the best I can be."
@Kwells2416 - "I'm #thankful to be safe and secure at home with the person who loves me. I wish this for everyone."
@ethicspeak - "Thankful for husband's and puppy's unconditional love!"
@Johnny2004 - "Grateful to God 4 my life. Indebted w/humanity 4 my peaceful evolution. Grateful 4 all the love I receive. Grateful for giving."
@MeghanMBiro - "Grateful for interesting friends + colleagues like you I've connected with on #Twitter.(smiles)"
@BettyRefour - "I am grateful for my sister, Rose & and that i am able to support causes that are important to me with my artistic ability."
@KatTansey - "I'm thankful for my soulmate and partner, Greg, who loves me unconditionally. I am truly blessed."
@michaelbosc - "For my wife who is my best friend & helpmate for our happiness and for our little piece of Eden."
@TracyTarrant - "I'm grateful that I learned how to get out of my own way so that the success and abundance I seek can come to me."
@LiveRight4Type - "I'm thankful for my wife, she's a genuinely good human being."
@MarshaHudnall - "I'm thankful for family, friends, a fortunate life and the opportunity to do what I love for a living."
@KID_Phyllis - "Thankful for my family and all their health!"
@careerconsult - "I'm grateful for sharing a career field with many warm, kind, generous & smart colleagues I like and respect."
@debra_feldman - "I am thankful for being blessed with health, a loving family, caring friends,a job I love, a warm, safe home & daily learning."
@JobHuntOrg - "Thanks for the USA, family & friends, health, opportunity, computers & technology, my job, Twitter & MUCH more!!"
@Encouraging - "I'm thankful for the experience of gratitude... a very sweet awareness!" Uhh, I'm thankful 4U! :) So supportive! Happy TG"
These are all messages from interesting people I've met through the social networking site Twitter (http://twitter.com/phyllismufson). I sent a note asking what people are grateful for and these lovely messages trickled in.
I have so much to be grateful for. What about you?
Gratitude is a habit I practice because when I am feeling truly grateful I feel most deeply myself. Just a little of what I am grateful for:
- My husband Bill who loves me unconditionally.
- That my clients trust me and allow me into their lives. That they are willing to work deeply and honestly. It's thrilling to participate in their new directions, their development as leaders, their personal transformations.
- The richness of positive energy, information exchange, and collaboration between the people in my little corner of the Twitterverse.
- To serve in these challenging times.
How can you make a practice of gratitude?
Thanksgiving is a great day to begin a gratitude practice. Here are a few ways you can cultivate gratitude at Thanksgiving, and continue practicing in your daily life.
Please feel free to add more suggestions - and also what you are grateful for in the comments section.
- Start your Thanksgiving dinners by asking each guest to talk about what they are grateful for. Conversation on gratitude creates a wonderful atmosphere of intimacy.
- Keep a daily gratitude journal or list. It can be really simple, a few words as a reminder or more elaborate.
In an experimental comparison, those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week ...(Emmons & McCullough, 2003).
- Stop and reflect daily on what you are grateful for. Pick a regular time and create the habit.
Participants in a study of daily gratitude habits were more likely to report having helped someone with a personal problem or having offered emotional support to another.
To close, here's a great article from the blog Zen Habits, "Tremendously Important Ways That Gratitude Can Change Your Life." http://zenhabits.net/2008/10/8-tremendously-important-ways-that-gratitude-can-change-your-life/
