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Every year we look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving with our loved ones. This beloved holiday encourages us to reflect on what we are thankful for, and practice gratefulness more actively in our lives. Friends, family, health, and God are among the main categories for which many of us are thankful. However, the real challenge is to carry this appreciation into the rest of the year, and consequently our every day lives.

Today’s Movin’ Together is dedicated to that very blockage, in hopes to help gratitude flow more freely in our lives! Hence, we add the Journal of Thanks to our healthy tool basket!

Dr. Nicole Mayo explained that writing seems to help our efforts and intentions to be lasting, rather than fleeting. “Research has shown to write a few days a week, notating five things that you are thankful for, especially the people in your life. Making the journal more personal, not a rote habit, but a transmission of the heart.” Dr. Mayo also cited the importance of speaking gratefulness out loud, with the understanding that appreciative words and conversations orient our mindset in a thankful direction. As we speak and think positively, our thought life becomes more positive!

In the past two months, Sara has experienced the importance of a positive and grateful thought-life, and has likewise witnessed so much to be thankful for. During this time she and her husband, John, have journeyed a trying and shaky road involving his kidney failure and now recovery. There were many times of uncertainty along this road, but ultimately they have seen God’s healing power and faithfulness, along with the importance of the prayers of family and friends.

During this difficult time, Sara found stability and hope in God’s Word: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV)

In congruence with Sara’s experience, Dr. Mayo added that when we approach our relationships with thanksgiving, those relationships are deepened. Extending appreciation helps intensify our investment in the relationship, as well as helping the other person to see their worth to you. Therefore, each party is likely to sacrifice more, which in turn deepens the relationship further.

Physically writing our thanks get us more personally involved in the process. This includes thank-you notes in addition to our Journal of Thanks! Texts and emails are great, but a thank-you note gives an object that can actually be held, saved and remembered. The tangible evidence of gratitude is very meaningful.

A lifestyle of thanksgiving is certainly a choice, and as we practice it becomes more natural and we see the benefits emerge in our lives. We can model thankful habits to those around us by taking time to talk about what we appreciate at dinner and other occasions. Dr. Mayo brought up the fact that it is easy to talk about our problems, and how difficult they are, but if we change from a heart of problems toward a heart of learning from the difficulties, we have more of an opportunity to grow from them.

The benefits of grateful thinking are changes in: our attentiveness, our energy, our enthusiasm, better sleep patterns, and improved immune function. Overall, we improve mentally, socially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually when we become purposeful about living with an attitude of thanksgiving! Join us in continuing this practice long after the Thanksgiving Day leftovers have been eaten, by giving your Journal of Thanks a few minutes of your time each week!

Next time on Movin’ Together we’ll be adding the tool of Time to our Healthy Tool Basket. And, who couldn’t benefit from more time!?

We’re thankful you joined us today, on the Homepage Network!