This is one unique Thanksgiving Holiday! We are being advised to limit our very traditional joyful Thanksgiving family gatherings. Some find this time troubling and COVID risks wanting to fill our hearts with worry and anxiety. A couple of weeks ago I received an email that gave me pause. It shared a message of how we need to be proactive and deliberate in experiencing and practicing joy and gratitude, because they are vital to our own health and wellbeing now and later in life.
Some 30 years ago David Snowdon began observing 600 German nuns and discovered some important things about the human mind. The data revealed that the nuns who practiced daily acts of gratitude, including writing down specific things and people for which they were grateful, were significantly less likely to develop cognitive impairments like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease later in life. Another researcher, Brene’ Brown, was surprised by the strong relationship between joy and gratitude, “I did not interview one person who had described themselves as joyful, who didn’t also actively practice gratitude.”
So in this season of joy, gratitude and thankfulness, ask God to refresh your memories of people who are special to you, people who have enriched your life. One way to reflect is to try to think of how your life would be if they were not there. Why not pray for them and then share with them what God brought to your memory and how grateful you are that they are a key part of your life, your health and wellbeing.
What if you woke up tomorrow with only what you thanked God for today? As distorted as 2020 has been for all of us, I urge us all to be deliberate and intentional about joy and gratitude and in expressing them to each other.
Let me share one reason why I am grateful: Sligo family, I am so thrilled and thankful for your generosity. The unique Festival of Praise Give & Go on November 14 exceeded my expectation and will be such a blessing to hundreds of families during this Thanksgiving season.
“You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach
“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” — William Arthur Ward