Last year was the beginning of a Thanksgiving tradition for me of active gratitude. Over the 26 days that lead up to Thanksgiving, one day for each year of my life, I was thankful for something and made a picture about it.
A simple 3 step process:
Decide what I will be grateful for today.
Create a picture about it.
Post it online.
You can see the compilation here: How Long Can You Be Thankful For?
I thought it would be simple enough but as it turned out October and November held many hard days for me. While somedays the challenge lay in finding anything I was truly thankful for, when I made time to reflect on the experience of my day I always found something. Looking back I remember struggling though those months and it's comforting to see all the experiences that made those hard days easier/ warmer/ manageable. Many of those moments and lessons I refer to still when I am having a hard day. They are now apart of my 'have hope' bag of tricks.
This year I will be writing and sending Thank You cards for the 27 days that lead up to Thanksgiving and posting a lesson I have taken from that person below.
I would LOVE for you to join me in this.
I'd love to:
-Hear about your stories.
-Hear of your experience doing it.
-Help you find a way that fits for you to explore thankfulness in action.
-Just know there are other people out there being thankful too.
Here are some starting ideas:
- Make some art; a photo, collage, a card.
- Write a list. (one thing a day or each day set a higher quoter)
- Write a thank you letter and send it.
- Do something each days that results in you hearing a genuine "Thank You". Ask me for my starting list of ideas for this one.
- Look someone in the eye and say "Thank you" each day.
- Spend time with someone each day who is genuinely grateful that you are there.
- Learn how to say "Thank You" in a different language each day. (good translate will help, or maybe you could just ask someone and make a friend?" Actually thats a great thought; how many ways do you know how to say "Thank you"?
27 days of Thanks Giving starts November 27 2012; I will be posting the lessons I have learnt, the links to see what great things these people are up to in the world and how you can have a piece of their action in the post above.
