“Thanksgiving Day, is a public holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. It originated as a harvest festival traced back to the Pilgrims in 1621. Thanksgiving has been celebrated nationally on and off since 1789, after Congress requested a proclamation by George Washington. It has been celebrated as a federal holiday every year since 1863, when, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,” to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November.” – source: Wikipedia
But yet, if we were honest, many of us would say we aren’t feeling very “thankful” right now as we look back over the last year. Unemployment, loss of close family pets, struggles with children, unexpected bills, cancelation of planned events/trips, etc.; can all weight heavy on us and make us want to disregard this holiday completely. So how do we get out of this pool of misery and CULTIVATE the Spirit of Thanksgiving?
In Brene Brown’s book, The Gifts of Imperfection, we get a few ideas. “…every person I interviewed who described living a joyful life or who described themselves as joyful, actively practiced gratitude and attributed their joyfulness to their gratitude practice…. Happiness is tied to circumstances and joyfulness is tied to spirit and gratitude… I’m so inspired by the daily doses of joy that happens in those ordinary moments, like walking my kids home from school, jumping on the trampoline, and sharing family meals. Acknowledging that those moments are really what life is all about has changed my outlook on work, family, and success.”
It’s changing our “Thanksgiving Focus” from our circumstances to what we have in the moments.
In hiking, our Thanksgiving Focus should be on the hikes/walks/runs we have recently done. It’s not about the missed hikes/trips I didn’t get to this year, injuries, etc., but rather the hikes I have done and “new” trails I have been on. Or as Stewart Greene has said “the best hike I’ve ever done is the last one I’ve completed.”
In our personal life, we tend to focus on the gaps; the place between what want/think our lives should be verses the reality of where we are today. When we do that, we see the disappointments, put our focus there, and lose any spirit of thanksgiving. We can change that around by focusing on the moments in the present and remember the good past memories we have created. For me it becomes being thankful for the time I did have at Cognizant Technology Solutions, the memories of all the hikes I did with my dog, and each success I do have with my children.
In our work life; it could be unemployment, being in a job we don’t like, a missed promotion, a lost contract. Yet, if we look, we can find those thankful moments. For me, being laid off for over five months has giving me the opportunity to take days to help parents move, help my daughter/grandson drive to Nashville, and attend extended family weddings. My professional social media presence with LinkedIn and www.alandersen.co has greatly improved with the extra time I could spend on it. Yes, I’m still working daily to find a new job and dealing with the disappointments of rejection emails, but I can cultivate this attitude of gratitude for the time I was able to spend in these different areas.
I think Thanksgiving with “Black Friday” has become a distorted holiday. At one end of the spectrum, we want to sit back with family and be thankful for all we do have. But then the advertising bombardment hits us from every angle and tells us that who we are isn’t enough, so end the Thanksgiving Day family events early and get out at 6 pm on Thanksgiving to shop or wake everyone up at 5 am, to get those “door busters” specials. We have all gone through disappointments, pain, and losses this year; and it easy to focus on them. So, I would encourage you this Thanksgiving to take that extra effort to intentionally cultivate the spirit of gratitude for those moments you do have in your hiking, personal, and work life. Trust me, I know it’s not easy, as I’m walking through these life events myself right now, but thinking about and being “Thankful” for the hikes, moments with family, and extra time from being unemployed is making this Thanksgiving so much more for me.
Al Andersen 