In the spirit of this week of Thanksgiving I would like to share three Giving-Thanks practices with you. I know this year has had challenges for most of us in some way or another. My hope it that no matter where you find yourself at this time doing these practices can help create a more aspirational and generative space within you. The first is for what already is. The second is for deepening into the meaning of it. The third is for what can be created.
Gratitude Practice 1: 100 Thanks
I learned this one over 15 years ago and still do it every year on Thanksgiving day. It's a great way to get into the appreciative space of what what feeds you positively in some way. It's very simple: just write down - preferably in one sitting - 100 things you are grateful for. Just list them off. It can be people, experiences, materials items, events, offerings, types of food, learnings, feelings, where you live, nature's gifts, podcasts, inspiring quotes, states of being, a grocery store, etc - anything that you are thankful for, no matter how large or small.
Doing it in one sitting helps us go underneath our everyday conscious thoughts and into finding the gifts "hidden in plain sight." At one point you may feel like you've exhausted your list and be tempted to stop, but if you commit to the full 100 chances are you'll connect with more gifts than you think about in your everyday living. It just requires presence. If you stick around to get to 100, you may find things - some even surprising - that you might not otherwise stop to think about as gifts.
Gratitude Practice 2: Grateful Because
Take 5-7 of the Gratitudes from the first list and list out the "why" for each one. It helps deepen into the feeling, the purpose, and your appreciation. it helps expand the Appreciative Field, which opens up more feelings of well-being and possibilities thinking - and extracting meaning from some things that were challenging. Finding meaning in something can be like finding the diamond in the rough. Here are a few prompts to play with. As always, make up your own versions.
• I am grateful for (a person) because_______
• I am grateful for (a positive experience) because it gave me_______
• I am grateful for (a challenging experience) because I learned_______
• I am grateful for (a thing) because_______
• I am grateful for (a situation) because it helped me_______
• I am grateful for (a book/podcast/class/talk/workshop) because I better understand_______
Gratitude Practice 3: Creative Future Gratitude
This one starts with doing something to get present and centered first. Whether that's breathing, dancing, meditating, or whatever it is for you, it works best if you find yourself undistracted and fully present. Once you are in a space where you won't be distracted, start imagining it is Thanksgiving week 2022, and you're writing down 3-5 things that happened in the past year (from today on) that that you are happily grateful for.
Rather than list them out from your head's habitual thinking (which is quicker and easier, but carries little creative "energetic weight" behind it), take time to immerse yourself in the full sensory, emotional, and energetic experience of each one of those - a luxurious indulging of your creative imagination, not a rushing through.
When you write it down, feel the feelings, see the sights, and feel the energy within yourself associated with each one. For example, when you're imagining it, does it feel alive, open, exciting, fun, or expansive within you? If yes to any of those, chances are it carries positive creative potential for you. If it feel heavy or contractive, leave that one off your list for this exercise for now.
Stay in the divergent (yes-and, non-evaluative) space even if uncomfortable. During this exercise, if other voices come in saying, "Yeah, but how will I make that happen?" "Yeah, but that's not realistic" or any other "Yes, but" message, let it go. The "game" is a Future Gratitude Imagining for what already happened by Thanksgiving 2022, so just stay with the focus of what happened in this vision - not the how. Play this game with the rule of not following any of the Yes-Butting voices. :-)
For example, it might be something like, "I'm grateful that my _______ (course, book, workshop, product, idea, presentation, business, brand, offering, etc) was so successful/alive/worthwhile in that it________" ...then define what that means to YOU (helped others x, brought people together, created x, allowed me to x, allowed others to x , served the mission of x, made money, helped a cause, solved problems, generated conversations, cultivated creativity, etc).
Once you've done that, let it go. Don't worry in that moment about how to make it happen. Pretend it already has and all you are doing is writing out why you are grateful for it happening. When writing them, let yourself feel the real Gratitude energy you'd feel if it already happened. Then let it go. Your creative unconscious now has something to start working with.
Then come back to them at another time, and start imagining the how with what you currently know, and let the rest of the how emerge over time as you start engaging the process. If you start engaging with what you do know the next "how" emerges out of the process over time.
Happy Giving-Thanks!
Michelle James © 2021