By know you’ve likely accepted the fact that I’m a gratitude junkie. Between the thanks of November and the goal setting for the New Year, I’m like a pig in mud. THIS is my time of year.
I like connection-focused holidays, because connecting with those you love can add years to your life, and make those years more pleasurable. When we get together to celebrate connection, feel the love and then acknowledge the connection with gratitude, it is a big collective high.
And yes, there’s also the chaos, the traffic, that Uncle. We can overdo the need to connect; more isn’t always more. That 20+ person Thanksgiving that you dread hosting can be a real anxiety producer. And yet, when it’s all done and you have a quiet moment to reflect (and a nibble from that box of Entenmann’s), you can experience deep gratitude, contentment and joy.
Let yourself have that moment, and try my favorite gratitude exercise, Three Good Things. It’s one of the most powerful life-affirming exercises my clients enjoy. Clients: If you’ve stopped your Three Good Things practice, this is the time to reengage.
For insight, humor, and joy (and a couple go-to recipes as well), enjoy a click or two through my links below..
Here’s to a loving, connected holiday and a full belly.
Links for Awe, Humor and Holiday Recipes
- How To Cultivate Awe: If you like practicing Three Good Things, then you’ll love Cultivating Awe. That blissed out feeling doesn’t just happen, you make it happen. Here’s how.
- Wait, Why Are We Sitting in Traffic Again?: Social connection is one of GGSC’s top ten keys to well-being. In addition to explaining what social connection is, GGSC also delves deep into how connecting socially promotes well being, and how to cultivate social connections. If you’re wondering why we put all this energy into Thanksgiving, these links can help explain it.
- Responsible Reading: Thanksgiving make me uncomfortable. Thanks, family, gratitude, yes. Displacing people who lived here, no. Remember both sides of the story with Lakota Woman, or this children’s book featuring Sacagawea.
- Thanksgiving Recipes: Back in the day, I used to host cooking shows and write cookbooks. This time of year we’re often looking for recipes; here’s one I recorded (yep, I’m the hands and voice) for Perfect Roast Turkey and another for Mashed Potatoes. Enjoy.
- Thanksgiving with Saturday Night Live: In case you missed it, Will Ferrell hosted SNL last Saturday. My husband laughed/cried his way through the episode, and I recommend the following silly segments: Squeeze and Release starting at 11:40 and Pocahontas (23:33). Both have juvenile humor. Enjoy.
- A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving: I splurged and bought it and you can too. Comes with detailed history animation after the jelly-beans and popcorn feast that Snoopy threw. Enjoy it. And yep, you’ll crave a York Peppermint Patty, so buy the bag ahead of time.
