In Gratitude
By Maria Provenzano
Since Nick and I first got together more than six years ago, we’ve viewed each holiday as another milestone: First Christmas together. Second Valentine’s Day. Third Fourth of July. For us, each holiday is a celebration of being together.
Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. For me, it signifies family, generosity and the warmth of coming home. Nick and I moved into our house about a year ago and we finally have enough space to host Thanksgiving dinner. That said, the physical house doesn’t matter quite as much as the home – that shared space we have built over the past six years – in various houses and apartments in several different cities. Home is the space we inhabit when we are together – wherever that may be – and this Thanksgiving we get to share that with some of the people we love the most.
Every year at the dinner table, I ask everyone to share what they are thankful for. It’s extremely important to me that we do this as a family. We’re all humans and we all enjoy our share of problems and challenges. There’s a lot expected of each of us every day and we have to do hard, unpleasant things like pay our bills and clean the toilet. In light of this, it can be easy to forget the good stuff – the elements of light and ease that make our days less heavy. A useful practice to bring all of the light into proper focus, is to compose a gratitude list. Bonus fun fact: It’s super easy and you don’t have to wait until Thanksgiving to do it. In fact, it can be a powerful and simple daily exercise.
Why don’t you try it now? Put the magazine aside for a moment. Consider those things that make you smile the biggest. Write them down.
If it’s one of those horrible no-good days on which it’s challenging to find any reason to say, “thank you,” consider what’s available to you in this moment. Do you have eyes that see? Do you have lungs that allow you to breathe air? Do you have a heart beating in your chest? You are a miraculous collaboration of cells – a living, breathing, biological wonder. Write that down. Try expanding outward from there.
I am thankful for my mind and my generous heart. For my family. For Nick and our little furry babies, Sweet Potato and David. For my curiosity. For my sense of humor. For my optimism, and my belief that everyone is doing the best they can with what they’ve come to understand about the world. I am thankful for challenges and their lessons. For falling down, and learning how to get up again.
Regardless of the way you choose to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, I invite you to actively practice gratitude. One of the most amazing attributes of the human heart is its capacity for continually expanding inward without taking up more space. There’s always an opportunity to let more in. Choose gratitude.
