The Promise Letter
Happy Thanksgiving☺️🦃
Given that Thanksgiving is in 2 days, it seems only right that this week's email mention gratitude. But, before I go any further, I’d like to say that I have immense gratitude for all of you reading this right now. Without you, my words would be floating around on the page of one of my journals with nowhere to land. I appreciate the support and I see every one of you.
Gratitude.
It has become somewhat of a cliché to tell someone to be grateful. We all know in our heads that we should be grateful for the little things in life or life in general, but it’s so easy to push that to the back of your mind and carry on. After all, we have bills to pay, kids to raise, and things to get done. Life is hard. Being grateful is hard. It’s worth it though. It makes you feel better physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Gratitude is one of the keys to life.
The kind of gratitude where you get butterflies in your stomach that feel like they’re fluttering on three pots of coffee because you are overwhelmed with love for your life.
The key is to not only think about what you’re grateful for, but feel it.
This Thursday, as you scoop mounds of turkey and that nasty jello dessert your aunt makes onto your plate (no one is sure how it stays on the menu year after year) and your ears are drowning from the buzz of multiple conversations happening at once, take a moment to look around and really be there. Take a moment to be thankful.
A lot of things had to happen in order for every single person in that room to be there. Going back all the way to great-great-great-great grandparents meeting each other. It’s a miraculous thing that we all get to celebrate together and be in each other’s lives. Yes, even those family members that you don’t “click” with. They are all worth being grateful for.
Put the phone away
Enjoy the music
Eat delicious food
Give hugs and kisses
Truly taste the wine
Embrace the celebration
Really be present.
Each year we get together and each year we are all a little bit older. The one thing in life that you can never get back is time. Enjoy it now. Don’t wait until next year to make up with your cousin you got in a fight with. Don’t wait until next year to take a picture with grandpa and tell him how much you love him. Don’t wait until next year. Take advantage of this year while it has been gifted to you.
Happiness blossoms when the seeds of gratitude are watered daily.
Happy Thanksgiving. May all the turkeys be cooked perfectly, all the pies have just the right amount of pumpkin, and may the sounds of laughter fill your ears and soul with joy.
Until next week,
Alissa
Current book(s) I’m reading:
The Myth of Normal by Gabor Mate
Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin
Warrior of the Light by Paulo Coelho
3Q’s
Quote of the week:
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.”
― Alphonse Karr
Questions I’ve asked myself:
What am I grateful for?
How often do I take time to feel gratitude in my every day life?
Queue worthy tune I have on repeat: