In the days leading up to Thanksgiving and following through into the new year, I’m reminded more than ever of the influence that gratitude and thankfulness have on my life. While I try to remind myself of its presence every waking moment, the holiday season provides constant reminders to appreciate the simple things in life.
Just the other day, I said a tearful goodbye to my loved ones back home amidst Tupperware containers of Thanksgiving leftovers and the fresh scent of pine after putting up the Christmas tree. I sat on the train for five hours and stared out the window, eyes closed, all the while repeating the mantra “I have so much to be grateful for.”
I’m grateful for long nights spent drinking wine and watching reality television, just as much as I am grateful for nights spent alone under the warm yellow lights in my apartment, sipping tea and curled up with a good book.
I’m grateful for my family, both blood and chosen — for goofing around with my siblings, for grocery shopping with my mom, for talking football with my dad. I’m grateful to hold my boyfriend’s hand on long drives, just as I’m grateful to hold my friend’s hand at a concert while we scream our lungs out.
I’m grateful for my hands, for affording me the power to write, and for my body, for giving me the grace to navigate the world. I’m grateful that I can wake up, breathe in the chill air of a northeastern November, and start each day with my feet firmly planted and my eyes wide.
I’m grateful for you, for me, for everything under the sun.
I encourage you to just close your eyes with me for one moment and breathe. Focus on your inhale and ground yourself in this moment, here and now, body and soul. And then exhale and let the feeling of light expand through your rib cage and out into the tips of your fingers and toes.
As you breathe, imagine your body is extending tendrils of warmth into the world around you. With everything these branches touch, remind yourself of your place in the world and just how grateful you are to occupy it. Take the bad with the good and allow your breath to retain what serves you and let go of what doesn’t. And all the while, through every inch that your exhale covers, inhale joy and gratitude.
(To help, here’s a guided meditation from our lovely PR Director, Anna, that I’d love to share with you all)
Whoever you are, wherever you are, remember that you are loved and valued, and there is always so much to be grateful for.
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