I was born in the month of Thanksgiving.
It’s easy to forget the things we’re grateful for, the successes we’ve had and those who helped along the way. It’s easy to get lost in the details or work and forget how lucky we are that we are able to create art.
We’ve all read about the healing power of a gratitude list. Just a few of the benefits are – increased optimism and happiness, improved emotional and physical health, better relationships and feelings of connection, better self-esteem, decreased anxiety and depression and many more. I’ve kept a gratitude list before, and I want to get back to it in a consistent way.
This Thanksgiving Day I’m starting a new tradition. I’ll be keeping a 365-day gratitude list and I’ll be reading it over next Thanksgiving as a way of remembering all the things I’m grateful for.
What are you grateful for?
I want to share with you my favorite Thanksgiving Day poem. Jack Prelutsky’s poems for children inspire a love of poetry in us all.
LEFTOVERS
by Jack Prelutsky
Thanksgiving has been over
for at least a week or two,
but we’re all still eating turkey,
turkey salad, turkey stew,
turkey puffs and turkey pudding,
turkey patties, turkey pies,
turkey bisque and turkey burgers,
turkey fritters, turkey fries.
For lunch, our mother made us
turkey slices on a stick,
there’ll be turkey tarts for supper,
all this turkey makes me sick.
For tomorrow she’s preparing
turkey dumplings stuffed with peas,
oh I never thought I’d say this —
“Mother! No more turkey… PLEASE!”
You can read more at jackprelutsky.com
More thoughts on turkeys
No judgment, but if like me you would rather eat things that don’t have a face (not to mention a wattle), Kelly Cuoco of the Big Bang Theory has a 1-minute video about adopting a turkey instead of eating one. You can see the video here. You can adopt a turkey here.
Finally, Thank you, thank you, thank you all for reading my blog and following my work. I am truly grateful for each and every one of you.
I hope you each have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday even if you’re not living in a country where it’s celebrated.