heathercphipps Gratitude, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized

Complicated Gratitude

There is never really a question about what to write for Thanksgiving Week. Thanks is in the very name of the holiday. We pause to eat ridiculous amounts of food and to say thank you.

Gratitude matters. We know this. We know that we are more positive and more productive and have less anxiety when we focus on being grateful.

We know that gratitude calms us and centers us.

This year is no different. Gratitude is as important, maybe more important, than in any other year.

And I intend to be grateful this week.

I am grateful I get to enjoy a delicious meal. I don’t need to focus on the fact that it won’t be with all of the people who are normally here.

I am grateful for the work I get to do. It’s a blessing to serve students and schools. I don’t need to focus on the strangeness of this school year.

I am grateful for my friends and my family. Six feet does not change a single bit of the love we share. A mask does not hide the smile in our eyes, and a screen cannot hide the joy in our voices. I don’t need to focus on the mask or the screen. I need to focus on the people.

I’m grateful for vitamin D and cool breezes and orange and rust colored leaves.

I’m grateful for Airhead Extreme Bites and SweeTart Ropes.

I’m grateful for pumpkin pie blizzards.

It’s 2020. Everything is complicated. But maybe not as complicated as I keep making it.

This week there will be turkey and stuffing and King’s Hawaiian Rolls.

It won’t look like any other year, but I learned a long time ago that every day is a gift not granted to everyone. And I am grateful for all of them!

Gobble! Gobble!

heathercphipps Gratitude, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized

Grateful This Week…and Every Week

This week is Thanksgiving. I have no doubt that most of you will take time to pause and reflect and give thanks for the many blessings in your life.  It’s good to do that.

This week our students will surely be reading books and writing essays about thankfulness.  They will trace their hands to make turkeys and sing the same songs we sang as children.  They will have that once a year treat that is the Thanksgiving school lunch.  (No, I am not being sarcastic.  Many of us look forward to that school lunch all year.)

There will be turkey and stuffing and football and time with family and friends.  And there will undoubtedly be moments of gratitude.

But what about next week and the week after and the week after?

Every day we have the opportunity to choose gratitude and to model for others that despite anything that might be happening in our lives or in our world, we can choose to be grateful.  It’s an important lesson that I hope we are passing along to the young people in our lives.  It’s an important lesson that I hope we are sharing with our friends and family.  Gratitude is not something we should embrace in only the happy moments of our lives.  Gratitude is something that actually helps create the happy moments in our lives.  A joyful heart begets a joyful heart.

I am feeling especially grateful this week.  I live in an amazing, supportive community that comes together to do good things for children.  I work with an incredible team of people who focus tirelessly on the right things.  And I have friends and family who nurture me and support me in all that I do.

I have those things every week…not just this week.

My wish for you this Thanksgiving is to truly embrace the week and whatever it has in store for you.  I wish you food and fun and a little time away to relax.  And I wish for you a joyful heart that recognizes we have so much for which to be grateful in every week.

heathercphipps Gratitude, Optimism, Positivity, Uncategorized

‘Tis the Season

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Thanksgiving is a special time.  As a child, I remember singing “Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go.”  I remember pilgrim costumes and crafting turkeys by tracing my hand.

As I got older, I remember deeper lessons about history and social justice. I remember essays and poetry and singing “Tis a Gift to Be Simple”.

But mostly I remember someone asking me every year to pause for a moment and give thanks.  English teachers, music teachers, social studies teachers.  Art teachers, science teachers and math teachers all found engaging ways to incorporate a lesson about gratitude.  And it stuck!

I really do choose to see the best in the world, and we know from research that cultivating an attitude of gratitude is a powerful way to develop that mindset.

This is not just me talking.  Forbes outlines  7 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude.  Our own physical and psychological health can be improved, our relationships can be improved, and our mental strength can be improved.  There are simple, tangible things we can do to improve our lives.

It isn’t always easy though.  Life can be hard.  In the midst of illness and grief, during times of fear and stress, gratitude is likely the farthest thing from your mind.  But practicing daily or weekly gratitude rituals can ease your stress and cultivate a positive attitude.

“You can’t be grateful and unhappy in the same moment.” (Dan Baker,  What Happy People Know)

I have included several links this week because many have written about the benefits of gratitude and outlined concrete steps you can take to be intentional about growing in this area… taking a gratitude walk is a great one.

This week I offer a challenge to all of you.  Take some time to pause and reflect on the good things in your life.  Write them down or make a mental list of them as you take a long walk in nature (with a warm coat).  If you work with students, ask them to do the same.  You have the opportunity to shape a mindset that just might stick with them for the rest of their lives!

For me, I am grateful for my family and my friends, for my life’s work, and for the opportunities that continue to present themselves on an almost daily basis.  I am grateful to be alive, and make no mistake, that is no small thing.