We’ve all seen it. The holiday movie where a family sits around a ginormous table. There’s a giant turkey, mashed potatoes, candles, and holiday decorations. Each member of the family takes their turn talking about what they are grateful for.
But in today’s hyper-disconnected society, do we really know what gratitude is? How can we express this gratitude in our current lives, and not just around holidays where it becomes a trite tradition?
Maybe some of us have similar family rituals for Thanksgiving, the original gratitude holiday. I have heard most often of the tradition of saying no more than three things you are grateful for, and it can be about anything. If I was to put gratitude into my own words, it would mean to have a deep felt appreciation. Gratitude invokes a warm, genuine feeling of thankfulness. It does not just have to be for the blessings in life, but it can be for the hardships as well.
I have learned that gratitude does not come easily. It is a practiced virtue, and brought about by acknowledgment of the little things in life that make it…well…livable. Too often we can get caught up in the monotony of daily life: home to school to work back to home. The days blend into one another, and soon enough we wonder where the week went, and what happened to the magic of the good old days.
What I have realized is that the magic is still there, and we are the ones who have changed. As a child, it is easy to see the novelty in your surroundings. There are more new things to explore, and the sense of wonder is easier to awaken. As you grow up and mature, you gain experience with more things, and the novelty wears off. But, it does not have to.
How do we regain this sense of wonder? And can we gain thankfulness from it as well? I would say that the answer is yes, and we can regain this sense of wonder in relatively simple ways.
One way of regaining wonder, and probably the most important and difficult one, is to look up from our phones at our surroundings. If you are at college, keep your phone in your backpack between classes. Look at the world around you: the trees, the cars, the sky, the people. “Stop and smell the roses” so to speak. After a few tries of this myself, I started noticing more shades of colors amongst plants, or even the sky. You might see a bird hiding in a bush, or a squirrel bouncing across the sidewalk. Let your mind wander as you look, and let your imagination work too. That’s how wonder develops. We need to break the misconception that we have learned everything we can about our natural world. There is always more to learn, especially for those of us who do not study the environment professionally.
How does this tie in with gratitude? It is easier to have appreciation for something when you notice it. Maybe the sky is blue today, and yesterday it was cloudy. A minor detail that is easy to miss in the bustle of the day, but something to be grateful for too. If the slow car in front of you moves over, if you go to get food and there is no line, if someone says, “Bless you!” when you sneeze: these are all mundane things that can reflect the moments in life we often take for granted.
So, this Thanksgiving season, work on regaining wonder in your life, and being grateful for it too. It only takes one small step to gain an appreciation for the world around you, but that step can forever change your mindset.