Thanksgiving 2021: Giving Gratitude for the Heroes in Our Lives
Thanksgiving is an opportunity to take a mindful pause to consider all that we have to be grateful for. While we do not have to wait for November to roll around in order to practice gratitude, it is a collective invitation to revel in all that we are blessed with. Connected with the gift of harvest, we can give gratitude for all things — large or small, tangible or intangible.
Typically, we offer our thanks to the blessings that are most tangible or visible. For example, if we can feel the breath moving through us, we might give our thanks to it. If there is a rich, savory stew in a deep bowl before us, we can readily feel gratitude for this. Likewise, if we are sharing this stew with someone we love and cherish, we may naturally extend gratitude to this person.
However, life is made up of more than the things we can see and feel directly. In fact, we are part of an interconnected web of life and energy, including but not limited to plants, animals, humans, and elements. Within this invisible web, there are countless beings that contribute to our life experience.
For instance, the savory stew we are blessed with is a gift in and of itself — but how did it arrive in the bowl before us? When we get curious, a simple dish can prompt gratitude for the soil, sun, water, and nutrients that grew the vegetables, the farmer whose hands picked them, the transportation system and the grocery store that held these ingredients for us, and all the humans that were involved along the way. I am sure you could find many other things to be grateful for within that journey from farm to table, but this gives you a general sense of the invisible web we are a part of.
The Heroes in Our Personal Lives
One of the lessons that the pandemic has provided is a deepened sense of awareness that we are indeed interconnected. People all around the world have played a part in keeping our lives flowing amidst these unprecedented times. This Thanksgiving, we might therefore expand our consciousness to include gratitude for all of these invisible or unseen heroes. This might include:
⇒ Healthcare workers for whom the pandemic has never ended
⇒ Supply chain workers who worked around the clock to ensure that essentials made it to all parts of the country
⇒ Teachers and childcare services who continued to ensure our children were engaged and cared for
⇒ Delivery drivers who brought us goods and groceries when we did not want to venture out
⇒ Administrative workers who answered calls and offered support as best they could
In addition, there were the people closer to us who provided their support, people like:
⇒ The friend who called to see how we were feeling
⇒ The colleague who lent an ear when we needed it
⇒ The therapist or mentor who held space for us to process our experience
⇒ The family member or partner who held us up when we struggled to hold ourselves on our own
We often think of a hero as someone who does something beyond the ordinary, something that most people wouldn’t do. However, what if we considered that heroism is found in everyday acts? A true hero does not need to save the world on one’s own; they simply show up to play their part. By this definition, we will all have encountered pandemic heroes — whether we met them face-to-face or were simply a beneficiary of their services.
Expressing Gratitude
To express gratitude this Thanksgiving, take your time to call to mind the people who supported you throughout this year — whether you met them personally or not. This can include a whole cast of characters, from your best friend to a customer support person to a farmer who you will likely never meet. Sit in silence for a few minutes to go over this year and to consider the web you are a part of. Silently offer your thanks to all those individuals within that web.
Next, consider whom within this web you can actually express your gratitude to. Choose someone you would like to and are able to share your appreciation with in writing. Write a letter to this person, hand-delivering it if possible or posting it in the mail if there is distance between you. Repeat as many times as you would like.
Extending gratitude is a gift for both the giver and the receiver. It enhances kindness, compassion, good will, and the will to do good. As Melody Beattie once wrote of gratitude: “It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” Extend your appreciation to all the heroic strangers in your life in addition to your loved ones, watching them transform into friends in your heart.
