The art of gratitude comes in all shapes and sizes, from all sorts of places, and yes, sometimes it's free and sometimes it comes at a cost.
Think about watching the sunrise from your own backyard versus watching it from an exotic beach you've never visited before.
Two very different experiences. Yet both can leave you with that same wonderful feeling of awe and appreciation.
And even on a cloudy, gloomy day, there's something to be grateful for in knowing the sun is still rising and setting, whether we can see it or not.
That's the thing about gratitude.
No moment, encounter, or act of kindness is greater or less than another simply because of its size or significance. The measure is in how it makes you feel.
Remember the Grinch? That moment when his heart grew three sizes?
I think Dr. Seuss captured something we all recognize. That feeling when something touches us so deeply that, for a moment, everything else seems to fade into the background. (cue music)
Maybe it's something that stops you in your tracks.
A moment when you catch yourself thinking, How lucky am I?
An unexpected kindness. A conversation with someone you love. A belly laugh that leaves you wiping tears from your eyes.
Or simply a moment of quiet when you realize that, right now, there's nowhere else you'd rather be.
None of these moments needs to be extraordinary to be meaningful.
And here's something else I've been thinking about.
Sometimes we're so busy looking ahead to what's next, taking care of what needs to be done, or thinking about what we wish were different, that we miss what's right in front of us.
Not because we're ungrateful.
But because we're not always paying attention.
Perhaps that's one of the gifts of gratitude. It invites us to notice. To appreciate what is, even while we're working toward what could be.
And maybe, just maybe, the more we notice those moments, the more of them we'll find.
So, as we move into this season of Thanksgiving, I'd like to offer a simple invitation.
Let's pause and give thanks for those moments that bring us gratitude.