Moving into the season of menu planning for Thanksgiving and later holidays, I hear friends saying they dread the havoc that feast foods play on their otherwise healthy eating habits. Newspapers and magazines are full of recipes intended to mitigate the damage in some way – take out the meat and put in fake food ingredients, take out the sugar and add more fat, take out the fat and add more sugar. They’re all stop-gap damage control. Wait a minute. Are we having fun yet? Celebration is good. My body doesn’t do well eating like it’s a big party every day of the year. My body does like to be happy and playful, enjoy the company of others, savor my food, and feel thankful. Feeling gratitude is not only a mental state. I actually feel taller, lighter, and I start smiling – from the inside out – from how it feels.
This morning I was in a bit of a funk, noticing how many items in my house needed to be put away, how many items on my to-do list were hanging over me, how the spots on my nose had returned. I could see that the spiral was headed downward. And then I remembered a little exercise I’d learned. I grabbed a piece of paper and started listing everything that was good: the paisley shirt I found at the 2nd hand store yesterday, the taste of the peppermint tea, the things I did right, like eating a carrot instead of a chocolate bar, the triumph of getting the old shed empty, the old letters that survived in the shed that were interesting to read, the realization that now I’ve read them I won’t need the clutter any more, the job I have – and it’s just the size I want, skills I’ve acquired (like this exercise) that help me through life. I remember hearing author Joe Vitale say that when he was stumped for something to spark gratitude, all he could come up with at first was the pencil he was holding. He was fortunate to have something to write with.
I could easily have come up with as many or more things I did wrong, things that were amiss with my life, but choosing to take this turn also turned my morning around and I felt eager to go teach my class.
Let’s get back to planning for Thanksgiving. What are you going to say? How are you going to express your thankfulness? Are there creative ways to make it a topic of conversation? What would change not only the holiday, but the anticipation of it? What do you appreciate about the people you’re with? What have they done for you? If you find them “difficult,” what are you learning from them? And when the time for feasting comes, or sooner, savor every bite with gratitude.
Thank you to my teachers, trainers, and colleagues at The Nia Technique who have led me to focus on pleasant sensations. Thank you to my coaches and instructors at Prosper, Inc. who have opened the door to continual appreciation.