One way to celebrate Thanksgiving every day (no sweatpants required)
Instead of gratitude journaling, try delighting instead.
Sometimes I don’t love gratitude journaling
One downside to the ubiquity of “gratitude journaling” is that this evidence-based recommendation can turn into a chore. Doing it rote each day can be a “I should do this.” It becomes a cognitive task instead of a heartfelt gush.
I’m practicing Ross Gay inspired delighting instead
A few weeks ago my best friend told me about Ross Gay, a poet who challenged himself to find delights each day for a year. With each delight discovery, he would hold his finger in the air and announce “DELIGHT!” (then I think he wrote a poem….because, you know, he’s a poet).
So we’re practicing delighting at our house. Here’s a few of my recents delights:
- A castle-tall cat tower
- Taylor Swift inspired friendship bracelet making
- Friedrich Buchner’s quote True vocation is where your heart’s deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.
- A inspiring empowering author interview with Shaneel Lal
- Finding a kumara as big as my head at the local fruit and veg market
What are yours?
What happened this month or week or day that gave you a little thrill?
Just today our garbage truck driver paused to pick up a bin that was rolling along the sidewalk. That was a little moment.
Further reading/listening:
- Greater Good Magazine Delight in the Unexpected with Ross Gay
- The Happiness Lab with Dr Laurie Santos
- SCIENCE: I have six minutes left before my next meeting so instead of a thoughtful or thorough writing about the science 😬, I will point you to this example article of the benefits of gratitude journaling (ngā mihi to Flinchbaugh and colleagues, 2012) and this juicy finding that framing gratitude journaling as prayer leads to unique benefits (hat tip to Schnitker and Richardson, 2018).
Ok Loves, that is it for me this week, weekly post 1 of 52 complete! Writing on the internet is little like talking to a wall. You do your song and dance, hit “publish!”, then there’s silence. All your feedback, questions, and comments are welcome. Invited. PLEASE, I love hearing from you.
Up next week: The beginning of a multiweek December series on seeing family during the holiday season. (Also maybe something about staying present and chill in the midst of stressful madness, hmm does that sound interesting? You let me know.)
Big hug, Kerry