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#yearofthankfulness 2022
Saturday 1st January 2022 @ 2:46 pm
As a new year begins, I am wary of making rash promises to myself and those around me. The promises I usually make will ‘absolutely’ make me thin, fit, happy, patient, kind, gentle and strong.
And of course, they all work out
*cough*
Actually, they do work out. The annual failure of said promises work to make me mindful of acceptance, of ambition, of rash self–talk and of reality. After my flutter of excitement at the person I think I can be, I start to accept the person I am, and work with him. The ambition then becomes a desire to be earthed, authentic, content and fully alive. And the questions become more real – they mostly begin with, ‘how?’
So as this 2022 begins, one brief answer to “how” shapes an ambitious habit for this year.
I have much to be thankful for, and I feel the need to cherish it all a little more.
To live, fully aware.
Aware of blessings,
aware of opportunities,
aware of the kindness of people,
aware of the indefatigable nature of the best in the human spirit,
aware of the divine Spirit present in and through everything.
Aware, of living aware.
One habit I can join with, I suspect will help me in this. My brother–in–law started a #yearofthankfulness at his last birthday. It’s a great idea – and interestingly scientifically proven to play an important role in health. Thankfulness is described in the Cambridge Dictionary as ‘the feeling of being happy or grateful because of something.’ In ‘the science of happiness’ research, gratitude is seen as central tool for human happiness.
University of California psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky (in TIME magazine) wrote about 8 ways to make yourself be happier …
1. Count your blessings
2. Practice acts of kindness
3. Savor life’s joys
4. Thank a mentor
5. Learn to forgive
6. Invest time and energy in friends and family
7. Take care of your body
8. Develop strategies for coping with stress and hardships
Read those again, and notice that THREE out of the eight secrets to happiness according to this happiness researcher directly concern thankfulness and giving thanks …
‘notice the blessings in life’, ‘savour the joys in life’, ‘thank people who help/have helped you in life’ …
Thankfulness should be part of our armoury as human beings – it should be part of what we put on every day in order to keep on being human, being kind, being GOOD, being the people we know we are created to be.
In Christian history, ancient mystic Meister Eckhart purported, “If ‘thank you’ is the only prayer you say, that will be enough.” This year I will be inwardly praying every day with this hashtag #yearofthankfulness. I do so with other family, and I invite you friends to do it too. Let’s do it together. Hashtag it.
Let’s make gratitude what we’re known for.
Today, day 1, #yearofthankfulness I am thankful for new beginnings, the old has gone, and a new book awaits to be written.
So, 2022, let’s be having you….
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