"Silent gratitude isn't very much use to anyone."

The title of this blog is actually a quote from Gertrude Stein that I truly love and am going to embody this Thanksgiving.

Gratitude is actually not a feeling but a practice that we sometimes really need to work at it. It means focusing on the good in our lives, and the world, rather than the bad, what we have verses what we don’t.

I know there are reasons why this might be hard. Taking a few of my own words from last year’s thanksgiving post, “ You can find simple things to be grateful for, like a good meal, or deeper things, like a long term relationship, or more cosmic things, like a sunset, which are often overlooked due to their familiarity. Taking some time to focus on and appreciate things we often take for granted, fosters gratitude and can even re- enchantment your life.

This year though I encourage you to tell people what you are grateful for, call people you love, old friends you have not talked to in a while, and tell them what it is about them that you are thankful for. Write a letter to the local newspaper expressing gratitude for something in your community, leave a note for the postman, the receptionist at an office, or tell the grocery bagger who helps out so many of us daily. Walk down the street and say something to strangers about the evening clouds or sunrise. Make a list of everything you love and appreciate about your partner or sister or mom, and leave it for them to express your gratitude. There are so many things you can do ….that will not only make other people feel your gratitude but will help it live on in you. So … speak up, take action, and demonstrate, your gratitude this Thanksgiving and see how even the smallest bit of focus and attention can change things.