Thanksgiving is a wonderful time when friends and family gather around the table to share a meal. As much of a grateful time this is we can also have some anxiety around making the right choices. So many thoughts go through our minds about the meal that it can leave us feeling frustrated and without a plan. Mindfulness has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, improve connections to our long term goals, and even give us physical benefits like improve immune function and better sleep.
When we are not anxious we tend to make better decisions. In this mindfulness exercise you will find that at various stages of the exercise you connect to a deeper sense of self. This is the key to feeling full at the table. When we are mindful we can sense the connection to our own body telling us that we are now full. How we achieve this is by connecting to all the wonderful things we have in our lives.
By bringing the positive into focus we have a much easier time seeing the good which encourages us to keep making better choices.
To do this mindfulness exercise you will need a piece of paper or a notebook and a pen. I would recommend taking some undistracted time to do this so you can really connect and doing this weeks in advance of Thanksgiving. You will then write at the top “100 things I am grateful for” and start to make your list. Each line must be unique, thoughtful and provoke a good feeling that you identify with. Typically 1-10 are easy, then 10-70 are ones that you will need to really think about and the last 20 are ones that create that deeper connection because we really have to dig for them.
After you have completed your list over the course of a few days you now have something really great to reflect on. Think about all these wonderful things and let that bring you peace. The next time you feel anxious think about that list or even go back and look at it. I hope you found this helpful as you navigate this Thanksgiving holiday.
