Thankful is a Feeling, and Being Grateful is an Action

It was December 8, 2020 I spent the entire day looking for a 2021 wall calendar. Every store was sold out. It was not even Christmas. As a human family, we were, in fact, done with 2020 way before we could flip the page to 2021. My friends were joking 2021 would be the big 1.

As summer slips to fall I am thrilled to remember all the moments this year filled with kindness. In light of all the 2020 blunders, people seemed a little nicer in 2021. While at times a bit awkward trying to navigate the new, I remember a woman at the mall trying to both social distance and hold the door open for me. This small gesture would have totally slipped my mind in pre-pandemic life. It meant so much to me in the moment. I felt thankful.

Popular culture says we should keep a gratitude journal. If that works for you, keep doing it. People tend to call me a trailblazer, I tend to buck the trend and put my own spin on things. I want to tell you what I am doing this year. I am keeping a thankfulness log. Thankfulness is an adjective, a word that describes. Gratitude is a noun. All those hours of home schooling for friend’s kids suddenly seems like it had value. Smiles.

I never found that 2021 wall calendar. As an alternate plan, I started a running google sheet log of feeling thankfulness. The list was kept on my desktop and accessible by my cell phone so that in any moment I could log the things I was feeling thankful for. Every Friday before I would leave my office, I would make sure to open the list and add things. Now, nine months in, I review the list and see things like riding the gondola up to the top of Keystone in the fourth worst snowstorm in Colorado history to officiate the wedding of Laura and John. For this experience, I feel thankful.

On the list is the moment that my mom walked through security at the Denver airport excited to visit her daughter, get her ears pierced and her nails painted during a week-long visit. I felt so thankful she was able to get fully vaccinated and feel comfortable flying across the country.

As I reminisce on this rather unusual year of openings, closings, beginnings, and endings, I am struck by how much the little things mattered. A key talking point of 2021 is mental health, a taboo topic for generations is now mainstream.

One key to better mental health is being fully in our emotions and feeling in our bodies. Taking time this year to ask – What am I feeling thankful for? Then documenting it has made me become more grateful. What action will I take to demonstrate my gratitude? I am holding open more doors, donating more money and providing more random acts of kindness. From the infinite wellspring of feeling good, I build a mental mindset of health, wellness, and wholeness.

You still have a few more months of the big 2021 to create the big 1. Each day this fall, and winter make a choice to be both thankful and grateful and watch your world continue to become more positive. Drop me a note and let me know what makes you feel grateful and what action you take to be grateful?

This article originally appeared in the Autumn 2021 issue of CHOICES Magazine