Thanksgiving is around the corner and you’ve likely experienced a range of emotions planning for the holiday. Maybe you’re excited to see family, relieved to have a day off work, or maybe you’re stressed about how much food you’ve got to prepare. Despite the good or bad feelings related to Turkey Day, have you pondered the original name of the holiday itself, “Thanksgiving?”
Thanksgiving is rooted in the tradition of autumn harvest festivals. It has been celebrated for centuries, and George Washington made it an official holiday. He proclaimed that the people of the United States observe “a day of public thanksgiving and prayer.”
As you prepare for the big day, I challenge you to remember the origin of the holiday: gratitude. Gratitude is the readiness to show appreciation and to return kindness. Research has found that people who consciously count their blessings tend to be happier and less depressed. In fact, a study showed that people who wrote one letter of thanksgiving for three weeks reported better mental health up to three months after the exercise ended. When people focus on the good in their lives, they tend to ruminate less on their negative experiences. Gratitude not only reduces the risk of depression, but it lowers stress which is a top cause of chronic illnesses including high blood pressure and heart disease.
As you can see, gratitude improves both mental and physical condition. If you’re interested in practicing gratitude for Thanksgiving and beyond, here are a few ways to make it routine:
• Recall three good things that happen to you each day. This may be a fun habit for you and your kids as you tuck them in at night!
• Keep a gratitude journal. Jotting down things you are grateful for is likely to change your perspective. You might see more positivity in the world around you. Looking through the pages of blessings in your life after a tough day may also be especially handy.
• Use your phone for good. We all find ourselves tied to our smart devices, so make it a priority to send a few “thank you” texts per week.
• Be self-aware of complaining. It’s easy to get drawn into a cycle of negativity when things aren’t going your way. To combat this habit, every time you complain, try to find the silver lining. When you can find the good in every situation, there is less room to fixate on the negatives of life.
Regardless of how you decide to practice gratitude, I encourage you to try it. Joshua Brown, a doctor of psychological science said it best: “Much of our time and energy is spent pursuing things we currently don’t have. Gratitude reverses our priorities to help us appreciate the people and things we do.”
Karissa Winkel is the family and community wellness agent with K-State Research and Extension – Cottonwood District. Contact her at 620-793-1910 or krwinkel@ksu.edu.
