A Gratitude Break
Here I am, writing this post a day late, and hurrying, because I have a busy week leading up to Thanksgiving. I won’t be as busy as many people, I’m sure, yet I still find my mind occupied with various things… none of which are “thanks.”
Taking the time for gratitude is sometimes difficult, isn’t it? Gratitude is not an entity that demands our time, so it gets shoved aside by other things that vie for our attention. And we are less heathy, as a result.
I stumbled across an article that mentions studies on the results of gratitude and being thankful. Seems that benefits may include many things from less inflammation to better sleep to general well-being.
Perhaps one reason we benefit from thankfulness is that, for a little while at least, we focus on something or someone other that ourselves. My wife and I experienced this together one time during a particularly busy day.
Years ago we made a big move from East Texas to Alaska. I was working in a United Methodist church at the time, and someone told me that a retired couple wanted us to be sure and drop by for a visit before we left. The day the visit was scheduled found us scurrying about dealing with last minute details, and both of us were short on patience and arguing about many things and nothing. We went on the visit with an attitude of “let’s get this over with” so we can get back to important tasks.
I don’t remember how long we visited with this sweet couple who just wanted to say goodbye and wish us well. When we departed, we got back into the car and our demeanor had completely changed. We smiled at each other and said something like, “That was really nice, and wow, I sure feel better, don’t you?”
Just getting beyond ourselves and focusing on someone else for a bit vastly improved our day. I’ve often recalled that lesson.
Since this newsletter is mostly about choosing non-theism, it’s important to ask whether gratitude is possible without God. My answer is “definitely.”
To theists, especially conservative ones, everything is seen as a gift from God. For me, I can see that I have in my life many “blessings” that do not require a “blessor.”
I can feel gratitude for life without addressing a personification of life. The fact I consider events to be coincidences rather than a divine plan does not take any meaning out. Meaning is where we make it, and human beings seem to have evolved a capacity (maybe even a need) to be thankful.
As we approach the holiday called “Thanksgiving,” (in the U.S., anyway) I believe we can all benefit from a gratitude break, to let thankfulness reset our attitudes and calm our distracted minds.
Here’s a link to the article I mentioned: