Gratitude Week | 11.25.22

Gratitude Week | 11.25.22

Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude. ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

The day after Thanksgiving should be an easy day to be grateful, right? We have full bellies, leftovers, and…if we are lucky…a slice of pie for breakfast!

So where does one go from here…the last day of Kym’s Gratitude Week.

In years past, I have jotted down a Gratitude List of five or so things each day in a “Gratitude Journal.” But after awhile, this felt trite to me… so much of the sameness written down, but did that really help me focus on being grateful? So I stopped writing in my gratitude journal and noted that stopping made no difference in how I felt or my attitude.

And so I began to change how I thought about having a grateful heart. Instead of writing things down, I kept my eyes and ears open for things that might cross my path that sparked gratitude. Those things came easier it seemed.

  • A particularly cheerful bird song.
  • The palest hint of a sunrise or a sunset.
  • Hearing the school age children full of excitement to tell their mom about their day.
  • The hushed silence that a late autumn morning brings.
  • Reading a poem that moves me in a new or profound way.

Great things to be grateful for, but still… it seemed lacking to me. But one thing that Carolyn blogged recently has been rattling around my brain.

“Before bed, I jotted 3 things I was grateful for and 3 things I did for someone else that day.”

I have not stopped thinking about this: “3 things I did for someone else that day.”

Hard truths are never easy to share… but I don’t often do things for someone else.

Now, I am not including Steve, my kids, or my grandkids here… those are the people it is easy to do things for. The people you are happy to help with a cheerful, loving heart. Nor am I counting the places I make donations to… is making a donation a good thing? Absolutely! But it is something that is, for me, easy to do!

But what am I physically doing for the someone else’s that I have no connection with? The answer is a whole lot of not very much.

So where I hope to take Gratitude Week is to look for the someone else’s. I am going to go beyond simply keeping my eyes and ears open. I want to try and go deeper, to stretch my gratitude boundaries – to find the parts that “carry the most weight” (to quote Carolyn again) in the things I do for others.

And there you have it… my take on how to close out Gratitude Week.

I hope that your Friday is full of all the things you love! See you all back here on Monday with my Word update!

 

Gratitude Week | 11.25.22

Happy Thanksgiving, Gratitude Week | 11.24.22

Abundance:
noun
the situation in which there is more than enough of something
an amount that is more than enough

Abundance is something I have been thinking about frequently this year, it popped up many times as I worked through my  word – full.

And the one thing I discovered this year was that the having all the things, being full, or overflowing… was not always the end goal. In fact, it is not a goal at all. So I spent this year paring down the abundance of things I have trying to get to the point of having just enough. Not more than enough… just enough.

And let me tell you, it is a struggle!

So today I am focusing on three things that I noticed recently…

  1. The news loves to tell us all that there are “supply chain” issues, yet I found an abundance of choices to fill my Thanksgiving table with more than enough. Did I have to skip things on my list? Yes, but they are not necessary… at all. We won’t go hungry today or this week! And yes, there will be leftovers!
  2. All the online retailers have now started Black Friday well before Black Friday. That includes online fabric stores, all the online yarny things, and yes… even nail polish. This has meant that I began unsubscribing from a plethora of things in early November! That niggling fear of missing out on “that next thing” really is one of my largest factors for adding to the abundance of things in my house.
  3. We cut the cable cord some years ago, but recently we have been discussing how we replaced cable with an abundance of streaming services. The New Year will see a vast paring down of those services… we have placed them all on a sheet and plan to discuss who stays and who goes in the coming weeks.

So you might be wondering at this point… where’s the gratitude? Me too! Ha!

I am grateful to have choices, to have the means to even contemplate abundance, and… perhaps most importantly… the ability to share, give, and do for others who might not have all the choices and abundance we do.

Now I am going to watch a video that Kym shared yesterday! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Unraveled Wednesday, Gratitude Week | 11.23.22

Unraveled Wednesday, Gratitude Week | 11.23.22

In life, as in knitting, don’t leave loose ends. Take the time to thank the people who matter in your life. — Reba Linker, Follow The Yarn

Welcome to the craziest Wednesday of the entire year… Thanksgiving Eve Day. If you have not begun T-day Prep, I am sorry because that means today is really crunch time for you!

As for me… I have just one pumpkin pie to make today. I am cheating on the pie crust and using a frozen one. I also need to toast up the bread cubes for tomorrow, but I can do that while I pre-bake my crust!

The Other Big Task for today is to get our lights up!

But before all that let me Unravel some Gratitude for you all!

  1. I am deeply grateful for those knits that require no counting, no charts to read, no increases or decreases. Just simple knitting that you can pick up and put down at a moments timer’s notice. My Pressed Flowers Wrap is really the PERFECT Thanksgiving Week knit! I can even stop in the middle of a row and not get confused about ‘where I am’!
  2. This week has had a good bit of prep-time in the kitchen and all that time spent with an excellent audiobook is such a blessing! I have invited Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell to join my feast preparations and they are the perfect companions! (Of course, Sherman beats them both because he is the Superior Tidbit Snarfler although they do make the wash up much less tedious!)
  3. Finally… and to circle back to the quote above…I wanted to take a moment to express my deep gratitude for each of you… readers, bloggers, makers, and this week… feast preparers! You make this community one that feels close, caring, supportive, encouraging, and inspiring. Without you all, my life would be lacking so very much. Thank you all for taking the time to read this blog, for sharing your thoughts, for giving me ideas for new books to read and new things to make… and for helping this Blog-community be the loveliest corner of the internet!

And with that, I want to wish you all the most blessed Thanksgiving. I will be back tomorrow with some Gratitude of Abundance.

If you wrote a post to share, please leave your link below and thank you!


Gratitude Week | 11.25.22

A Week of Gratitude | 11.22.22

Today’s things I am grateful for are things I have absolutely no control over, but that does not mean I feel less gratitude about them!

Start each day with a positive thought and a grateful heart. ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
  • This weeks weather…there has been an abundance of sunshine and more for today and tomorrow! And!! The mild(er) temps to accompany the sunshine. I am doubly grateful because these things (sunshine and milder temps) will make putting out the lights much easier!

  • Speaking of lights, it was an absolute joy to watch my neighbors grown grandchildren come and put out their Christmas lights! They were as delighted to do this task as their grandparents had watching them do it! Bonus gratitude, seeing those twinkling lights lit up last night!
  • And my final out-of-my-control thing I am grateful for is that Steve is working from home all week. (Reason why? Well, they had a bit of a COVID Super Spreader Event at his office and so… back to work from home!) No, I am not grateful that people are sick… but I am grateful that Steve is, thus far, not sick and home!

There you have it… three things I am grateful for that are entirely out of my control! What about you? How do you look at those things you can’t control?

See you tomorrow with some Unraveled Gratitude!

Gratitude Week | 11.25.22

Sometimes Monday | 11.21.22

is for contemplating Gratitude!

Kym has invited and I will happily join in!

My plan? To post three things I am grateful for every day this week.

And before you ask….Yes, Unraveled Wednesday will be here… but a gratitude edition! (I mean how can one not be thankful that they are a maker and a reader?!)

Things I am grateful for today:

  1. My improving painting skills and finding a creative outlet that both challenges and inspires me!
  2. Sherman… every single day! But especially this week as he is my constant kitchen companion!
  3. Poetry… which I cannot imagine not being part of my day… any day. But most certainly a week that we focus on gratitude!

And with that, I am going to begin the housework portion of my day… with a grateful heart. Happy Monday All!

 

 

 

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