Leading up to Thanksgiving, each day I will blog about what I’m doing to be more grateful. I invite you to join me, and to share your thoughts, observations, suggestions and ideas.
Day 21: We’re three weeks in to the Month of Thanksgiving so let’s recap
Since I’m blogging new ideas and things to do each day, it might feel a bit overwhelming. If you haven’t even had a chance to read yesterday’s post and here comes a new thing to do today, and you do still have all your normal life to-dos, you could feel it’s a bit much.
So today I’m going to recap and simplify.
It’s not a new Month of Thanksgiving task every day. Many posts are building on previous thoughts, trying to find ways to keep on track or looking for inspiration when gratitude isn’t flowing.
Let’s start at the very beginning: On Oct. 26, I launched a Month of Thanksgiving. I’m blogging daily about what I’m doing to be more grateful for all my many blessings, leading up to Thanksgiving.
How can I be more grateful? One of the most common ideas I run across is keeping a gratitude journal, writing down a few things you’re grateful for every day.

• If you need inspiration about what you’re grateful for, the Love List Project can get you thinking about what makes you happy.
• Once you’ve thought of some things that make you grateful, you might enjoy sharing them on Facebook or Twitter
• You might also enjoy reflecting on why you’re grateful for each thing on your list

What if I’m not feeling grateful? We all have frustrations, regrets, people who’ve hurt us, things we wish we had or things we wish were better. If you’re feeling any of these things, try to convert them to gratitude:

• acknowledge the things you hate and try to find something you love in each
• reflect on your regrets and give thanks for the lessons your mistakes have taught you
• try to forgive the people who’ve hurt you, or at least to find something to be grateful for in the hurt
• try to redirect your desire for things you don’t have to gratitude for things you already have
• find time to be grateful even if you think you don’t have time to give thanks

Each of these isn’t necessarily a new obligation for the Month of Thanksgiving, as much as a way to break through the road blocks to gratitude.
OK, so now I’m feeling grateful. What should I do about it? If you’re getting into the habit of doing a gratitude journal, you might want to express your thanks beyond just writing it down as a personal exercise. You could:

• do a little dance
• write a thank you note
• give a gift that helps remind you of something you’re grateful for
• give and receive thanks verbally

I think it’s a little like learning to play an instrument. Each lesson builds on the last, but first you go back and practice your scales a little as a warm up and to remember how each new skill builds on previous ones.
And as a reminder from my kick off post:
Why should you do this?
There’s a self-help adage that says what you focus on expands. You’ve seen it in action if you’ve ever worried some small detail until it became an irrationally large part of your waking thought. Now we’re going to do it in reverse and focus on the good.
The Providence Journal wrote:

Robert A. Emmons of the University of California, a professor who many consider to be a leading authority on the “science” of gratitude, has summarized what he considers the most significant findings of a project that he and Michael McCullough of the University of Miami conducted with a grant from the John Templeton Foundation”:
•In one experiment, adults who kept “gratitude journals” on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to adults in two other groups.
•Participants who kept gratitude lists were more likely to have made progress toward important personal goals (academic, interpersonal and health based) over a two-month period, while self-guided exercises in gratitude with young adults resulted in higher levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy.
•Grateful individuals place less importance on material goods, are less likely to judge their own and others success in terms of possessions accumulated, and are more likely to share their possessions with others.

Are you with me? What’s worked for you so far? What hasn’t? What would you like me to blog about in the remaining days between now and Thanksgiving?