Right now, ‘tis the season for turkey and tamales - or we hope so, anyways. That’s right, folks, this year is the first time ever that The Uh Ohs shall attempt to make tamales. Or die trying. Why? They’re delicious. Can you have some? I mean, I guess if you really want some. Sure. We’ll share.
I (Stasia) love themes. I’m a sucker for a good themed birthday party or marketing scheme. Thus, I have been doing a bit of light reading on the topic of gratitude. Because Thanksgiving.
The book I’m in is called ‘Gratitude’, by Diana Butler Bass. Firstly, what an apt name. Secondly, this is not necessarily an Uh Ohs official book club book or anything, but I’ve come across some interesting things so far.
She discusses gratitude being more than just a way of tallying up your wins at the office. She recounts a quote from Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor. He says, ‘Right after the war, I went around telling people, “Thank you for just living, for being human.’ And to this day, the words that come most frequently from my lips are “Thank you”. When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude towards gratitude.’
I’ve heard that gratitude is sometimes called the key virtue - without it, you can’t get to any of the other ones. The more you practice it, the better you feel overall. There’s positive implications for your physical health, too. Not that I’ve got statistics or anything. Just one more thing to be grateful for, I guess.
I personally find this to be really exciting. I love projects, too, and learning more about gratitude seems like a really worthy one. Not to mention the ways it can tie together with generosity - it seems that the most generous ones are also the most grateful. (I usually salute those people before I go back to hoarding my treasures and spitting on the disenfranchised, but this year I’ll try to un-Scrooge a little bit more around the holidays.)
How to wrap up this little discussion? Let’s just finish by saying that I am personally inspired and grateful to have read something this week. And what about you? Do you have any thoughts or great stories about gratitude?