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
Sinead Huskisson 