An Attitude of Gratitude
The history of the celebration of Thanksgiving goes back to 1621. However only in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November. We usually associate the holiday with family gatherings to share the turkey dinner and the Black Friday shopping the next day. Years ago, I specially visited downtown to photograph the shoulder to shoulder crowds in front of the Macy’s store. I did not go there this year, but I suspect today there are no crowds. And I think that some families are concerned to get together for the celebration, because of the Coronavirus. Then what is left from the holiday? I believe what started it in the first place, the attitude of gratitude. When I Googled the phrase, I found an article which appeared on May 10, 2019 at goodjobpal.com titled, “Why attitude of gratitude makes you happier and the science behind it.” In the article it was defined as: “An attitude of gratitude means making it a habit to express thankfulness and appreciation in all parts of your life, on a regular basis, for both the big and small things alike.”
The question is how to develop this special habit? I found a possible answer in the book by Darren Hardy (publisher of Success Magazine), “The Compound Effect. Multiplying your success. One Step at a Time”.
It describes the compounding effects, regardless of what is the subject or activity. One of the stories relates to an encounter with his friend who blamed his wife for all of the misfortunes in their life. Listening to him, Darren decided to use an attitude of gratitude technique. On Thanksgiving he started a notebook, where every day he would write something good or nice about his wife. At the following Thanksgiving he gave this notebook to his wife as a present, and she said that it was the best gift she ever received. But something else started happening. Focused on the good things about his wife, their love became even deeper. The next natural step was every night before going to sleep , to write one thing he was grateful that day. This allowed him to see the world in a more positive light. After listening to the program I decided to create my own weekly routine. On Friday, I write down all of the good things that happened during the week.
As a part of my expression of gratitude to you, I produced a new 2021 art calendar; a tradition I started last year. I am going to mail it to my clients for whom I helped to get mortgages in the last three years. I hope you are one of them. If I helped you before 2018, and you would like to get one (you can see the photo images at mannykagan.smugmug.com), please let me know, and I will gladly send you one, as long as supplies last.
P.S. This essay is also part of my expression of gratitude. For this I do not need one special day in the year. I do it at least once a week with my Encounters stories and images. Since this is a holiday, I am giving you my bouquets of flowers.
Enjoy and Share with A Friend!
