So Much To Be Thankful For
Thank You
There is so much to be thankful for in our lives that most of us rarely think about. There are so many "unearned" gifts
we just take for granted, but someone, perhaps many people over decades or centuries, created for us. In our homes are luxuries that kings and queens and the fabulously wealthy a century or two ago did not. Flushable toilets. Refrigeration. Central Heating. Not to mention vaccines and electric lights.
Thank you, inventor and manufacturer and builder and...and...
Thank you long list of people.
Then there are unearned gifts that the human species had absolutely nothing to do with creating (though we can have a hand in changing or destroying).
Air.
Oceans.
Hummingbirds.
The color indigo.
Taste. Touch. Smell. Hearing. Sight.
The sunrise this morning.
Life.
Thank you, and thank you, and thank you.
We have also worked toward and sacrificed for some of the gifts in our lives. Relationships. Financial security. Skills and knowledge. The satisfaction of helping others. Anonymous giving to help others who don't even know your name.
These are earned gifts
that bring us joy.
This is a time of year which can have big ups and downs. The demands, both emotional and physical, can be overwhelming.
This coming week in the United States is celebrated as a special time for giving thanks. It is also a great opportunity to step back and to reflect on all that we have to be thankful for.
This week I had a wonderful time facilitating a Grateful Living workshop here at the University of Idaho. As I was preparing for it, my friend Valerie Aker Player shared an activity she leads with her students regularly. In this activity, the students identify things they love, and then they create a piece of art showing all those. You can see some examples of this work, and Valerie's explanation of the exercise, in the workshop overheads, which I've shared in a link just below, "Grateful Living Workshop".
I quickly adapted this activity for Wednesday's workshop, and so we identified unearned and earned gifts and created our own posters.
Here is a link to the Grateful Living Workshop, which includes Valerie’s explanation of the exercise and examples of posters her students have put together. Feel free to share this with anyone who you think can use it.
