Gratitude – Sinead Huskisson

This time of the year is often associated with a review or look back at movies, music or books released during the year.

I like hearing and reading about what others have enjoyed, so this month I’ll share some of my highlights from 2024.

Perhaps a wrap-up is also timely, as I intend taking a break from writing this newsletter in 2025. I have created 36 Belief Building newsletters over the last 3 years. I hope you have enjoyed reading them as much as I have enjoyed putting them together.

Thanks to everyone who shared and recommended inspiring people, ideas, blogs, social media clips, newspaper articles, books or poems. Thanks for your feedback and thanks for reading.

Best wishes for 2025.
Sinead

According to Spotify Wrapped, the top 3 artists I listened to this year were Taylor Swift, Coldplay and Sia. I was a bit surprised by Sia but it seems she features on a lot of the songs that I like!

The 3 books that had the most influence on me in 2024 were:
Chris Hadfield “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth”
Marie Kondo “Spark Joy”
Oliver Burkeman “Meditations for Mortals”.

I enjoyed Chris’ book as it expanded my knowledge of space in a very easily digestible way. It was interesting to read about exercising in zero gravity and the other challenges faced by Chris and his team-mates.

Marie’s book has had a practical affect in terms of how I store my clothes. Folding them and putting them away takes a little longer than usual but it is worth the effort.

Oliver’s book “Meditations for Mortals” has impacted me in terms of how I think about time and success. If I had to sum up his message, I’d say; “Life is for living right now and we shouldn’t wait until we’ve cleared the decks of all the things we intend doing first so we can have the perfect run at what we think will be our perfect life. There is no perfection, what we have is just now, just this moment, in all its imperfection.”

I enjoy many different newsletters but I have picked these as my top 3:
Oliver Burkeman The Imperfectionist
Page Grossman: do5ive
Padraig O’Morain Daily Bell

Oliver’s newsletter is quite infrequent, perhaps one every 2 months or so but generally an interesting reflection on time and productivity.

Page’s do5ive is usually sent fortnightly on Tuesdays and Page offers 5 different things to ponder, often on similar themes to Oliver’s newsletter or often related to the time of the year. She also usually includes The Other 5 which is a short and snappy list of what Page is reading or perhaps a link to a podcast or recipe.

Padraig’s Daily Bell email arrives in my inbox every day. It is usually just a paragraph long but always a nice reminder of mindfulness or taking a breath or pressing pause on unhelpful thinking.

I didn’t include movies or TV shows in the lists above as it is difficult to think of 3 that left a lasting impression on me in 2024.

So whilst it’s not from 2024, I’m going to mention just one TV show, Ted Lasso. Given this newsletter is called Belief Building, I particularly enjoyed the message in the show, epitomised by the poster in the dressing room that said “Believe”.

I’m not giving anything away when I mention that there’s a part in Ted Lasso that includes Rick Astley’s song “Never Gonna Give You Up”. But mentioning this allows me a segue into a side story regarding Rick Astley which is from a Financial Times article of 28 September 2024 written by Emma Jacobs “What Rick Astley can teach us about giving up”

The article begins with the line “Rick Astley is famous for two things. His 1987 hit, “Never Gonna Give You Up”. And giving up.” It goes onto elaborate that Rick feels lucky to have had the career trajectory that allowed him return to music 20 years after taking a break. The article ends with Rick’s words where he advises that he would recommend a year off rather than quitting completely. I read the article in September around the time that I was thinking about taking a break from writing this newsletter. If I met Rick, I think I would say that I might take a year off or I might take less or I might take more. But I will keep reading Oliver’s advice to live in the moment and enjoy what I have without trying to be perfect about anything.

“I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that alot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.” Anne Lamott

“It may not work out how you think it will or how you hope it does. But believe me, it will all work out.” Ted Lasso

“Things don’t have to be perfect to be a success.” Chris McCausland, Comedian and Winner of Strictly Come Dancing 2024

Last Thursday, November 23rd, Americans celebrated Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a celebration of gratitude for the harvest and other blessings received during the year.

Although I don’t usually celebrate this holiday, it has prompted me to focus this month’s newsletter on the theme of gratitude.

I hope you enjoy it.

Sinead

“What we focus on, what we put our attention on really determines how we feel about that particular day or our life in general,” is a quote from the author and journalist, Ariana Huffington.

Ariana, as well as other well known media celebrities including Oprah, often talk about their gratitude practices. They believe success is in part achieved by being grateful for what we already have. Having a grateful mindset means our focus turns away from lack and being without, bringing us to a more positive frame of mind.

Irish mindfulness coach and author, Padraig O’Morain, suggests that one way to practice gratitude is to be grateful for something like the sun rising or somebody doing you a small favour – things that you didn’t initiate yourself.

James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, recently included the following quote, attributed to Yoga teacher and spiritual leader Sadhguru, in his weekly 3-2-1 newsletter. “Every moment there are a million miracles happening around you: a flower blossoming, a bird tweeting, a bee humming, a raindrop falling, a snowflake wafting along the clear evening air. There is magic everywhere. If you learn how to live it, life is nothing short of a daily miracle.”

When I was planning this section, I thought I would research how to begin a gratitude practice.

But then I thought why start researching the thing before I do the thing, thereby delaying doing the actual thing so instead here’s 5 things I’m grateful for this month.

1. Last week, I attended a 30 year reunion of my college class. It was an informal, enjoyable and very friendly evening. It was interesting to hear how everyone is getting on. And of course none of us had aged a day!

2. At the start of the month, I found a book by author Marianne Power called “Help Me!” for €1 in a local charity shop. As you might have guessed already, I’m a fan of self-help books and in this book, Marianne tried out a different self-help book each month for over a year. It’s funny and relatable. I am grateful to have stumbled across it.

3. I love stationery. A key aspect of having a gratitude practice for me is having a nice notebook. I got a gift of a lovely new blue notebook recently so I am pleased to have an appealing place to write my gratitudes.

4. As conferring ceremonies took place on the MTU campus in early November, I got to meet some students who I had previously only met on screen! And others that I hadn’t seen for a while. It was an uplifting day.

5. Finally, I’m grateful that I wrote this list! I have alot to be thankful for.

“Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.“ Doris Day

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” Volatire

“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” Willie Nelson