Gratitude Matters Part 1: Origin Story

As we turn the calendar into November we enter a season many connect with Thanksgiving and Gratitude. For years now, I have engaged in a gratitude practice throughout all of November. 

How do I engage in gratitude practices?

I take photos of things I am grateful for.

I share poems that bring me joy and hope.

I share scripture that inspires me.

This week I share my origin story of gratitude practice and how it connects to my appreciation of and writing of poetry. 

Would you like to join me in this month of gratitude practice? 
Here are some prompts to get you started...

What Gratitude practices are meaningful to you?
Where did they first come into your life?
Who introduced you to them?

If you are interested in our monthly enewsletter and joining us for a real-time Zoom gathering this month. Reach out to us at: holyshenaniganspodcast@gmail.com

Transcript

[00:00:00] 

Tara: As we turn the calendar to November, we enter a season connected to Thanksgiving and gratitude. For several years, I've been engaged in an annual gratitude practice every November. How do I engage in gratitude practices? I take photos of things [00:01:00] I'm grateful for. I share poems that bring me joy and hope.

Tara: I share scripture that inspires me. Sometimes, I record one minute videos to document the ways Gratitude practices matter to me throughout the month of November. I share my gratitude practices in small group settings and on social media, and I invite others to join me in this practice of gratitude as well as sharing how gratitude shows up in their lives.

Tara: As I look to the coming weeks, lectionary readings, I came across a piece of scripture that I'm grateful for, and it comes from a segment of the wisdom of Solomon. As I read this piece from the Apocrypha, I was caught up in its beauty, how it noticed the benefits of nature. And its role in ancient Israel's history and how it exhorts [00:02:00] or encourages the reader to pursue wisdom in chapter six, 12 through 16, wisdom is embodied in the feminine form.

Tara: Something that may seem shocking, but is a perspective I celebrate and I'm grateful for to center us in our focus on gratitude, as well as a journey with wisdom. I offer this exhortation to encourage us. As we take note and notice why gratitude matters in this reading from the wisdom of Solomon. Wisdom is radiant and unfading, and she is easily discerned by those who love her and is found by those who seek her.

Tara: She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her. One who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty. For she will be found sitting at the gate. To fix one's thought [00:03:00] on her is a perfect understanding, and one who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from care, because she goes about seeking those worthy of her, and she graciously appears to them in their paths, and meets them in every.

Tara: The Wisdom of Solomon, chapter 6, 12 through 16. So as we seek wisdom and we seek gratitude all month long, you might be wondering, why does gratitude even matter? A quick Google search on the importance of gratitude practices will reveal many studies on gratitude practices and how they improve and change brain chemistry and function.

Tara: But this is a task I leave for you to follow up on for your own need of scientific proofs of why gratitude matters. I am not a scientist, but I know [00:04:00] firsthand how gratitude practices have bolstered my spirit as well as my engagement in creative efforts. This summer at the Wild Goose Festival, I shared a table talk about this very topic of how gratitude practices have been life giving to me.

Tara: Especially in times of grief and change. So as we've just passed All Saints Day, and many churches have held All Saints Remembrances this past weekend, I'll be sharing all month long some stories of change and how I've leaned into gratitude practices as a means of spiritual healing and inspiration.

Tara: I've also learned that in seasons of discernment, grief, or isolation. that I continue to go back to the well of gratitude practices day after day. And to help provide some context of where these gratitude [00:05:00] practices first entered my life, I offer you a personal story about gratitude practices, poetry, and Mrs.

Tara: H. I was in fourth grade when Mrs. H gave us the assignment to write some poems, and I chose to write a poem about my favorite color. The color red. When I handed that assignment in, I was so excited. I wanted Mrs. H to read it. And I wanted her opinion on my poem. But when I got my poem back, there was a note saying, See me at recess.

Tara: I took my poem up to Mrs. H's desk at recess, wondering if she thought it was something that deserved accolades. But in actuality, she was skeptical that I had written the poem myself. I was heartbroken at the critique. But in the moment, I bravely asked Mrs. H an important question. Mrs. [00:06:00] H, give me another topic and I will write a poem for you right here, right now

Tara: and so I did. And when she read it, she realized I actually was. Poet two, something that she considered to be a sacred calling, one that she had herself. It wasn't till I was out of Mrs. H's class and that rotation in writing poetry was long behind me that I realized why poetry was so important to her.

Tara: and why she held it so close to her heart. It turns out that Mrs. H used poetry as a means of expressing grief in a time of difficult change. She wrote poems in response to the loss of her spouse and poems that were powerful and meaningful to her. Putting the words on the page allowed Mrs. H the space to [00:07:00] live with grief in a way that wasn't overwhelming to her.

Tara: I learned this in my own season of grief after the loss of my older sister. I learned about her value of poetry on a summer day. My mom had come to the school to gather some papers to prepare for middle school. And I was in the midst of grief. I didn't know what to do with all the feelings I was feeling over the loss of my sibling.

Tara: And so, Mrs. H came up to me on that abandoned playground. And sat next to me and told me why she loved poetry so much and how it had been a space of solace for her in her grief. And she invited me to take up my pencil once more and to write about my sister. To write about why I missed her. To use [00:08:00] poetry as a safe space.

Tara: A space to remember the person I love and that I was grateful for her life. And I wanted people to know about her too. So Mrs. H shared her love of poetry with me that day, as well as gave me a means of expressing my grief as well as my love and my gratitude for my sister's life. And while you might have heard this story or parts of it in the podcast before, I wanted to bring it back to the surface.

Tara: As we talk about gratitude, as we talk about grief and we remember those we love this past weekend for All Saints Sunday, I wanted to invite you into this space as well. Like Mrs. H invited me, you can take up a pencil or a pen [00:09:00] and you can also write a story or a poem about someone you love, someone you are grateful for.

Tara: That writing can become a means A safe space for you to express grief and gratitude. The poem I'm about to share with you now is a poem I wrote much later in life about my sister whom I love and miss and am grateful for. The title of this poem is called Yellow Leaf. This yellow leaf was once green with promise.

Tara: It was connected, nourished, and alive. Hints of the fall were all around. Crisp evenings, rushing winds, and shorter days. But this yellow leaf fell in silence. There was no sound as she surrendered to [00:10:00] the swirling water. Her story was not collected, heaped up, or leapt into. She twirled calmly, quietly, silently.

Tara: So as to not cause a stir on the surface. But the space she left behind was deep and wide. It shouted of her absence. Yellow leaf had curly raven hair, ice blue eyes, fair skin and freckles that showed themselves when you stood close. Silence should not claim your life. So today, I share your story and the dream of our goodbye.

Tara: That gave me hope to keep on living Yellow Leaf. No more will you float in silence. You'll dance on the [00:11:00] wind swirl dramatically in your favorite wood, and be swept up over and over and over again for leaping laughter. And you're allowed love, love of life. Today I am grateful to Mrs. H for sharing her love and the sacredness of writing poems.

Tara: Poems on behalf of the ones that we love and miss and are grateful for. And I hope this poem, Yellow Leaf, inspires you to pick up a pencil and paper and write your own gratitude poems for yourself and those you love and miss too. Over the years I've taken part in gratitude practices. I see how my and other people's capacity for gratitude grows as we practice this.

Tara: Gratitude practices help me to pay attention to the good [00:12:00] that is already around me. They also help me to reframe my perspective on life. Over the next few weeks, I'll continue to engage in the season of gratitude and thanksgiving with these gratitude practices and stories. From my own life about gratitude.

Tara: Well, you join me for this practice of gratitude to join me on this gratitude practice all month long. Come on over to holy shenanigans podcast at tick tock Instagram and Facebook later this month. I plan to host a live gratitude matters zoom gathering And we'll be sharing that information as soon as we have a date and time set.

Tara: Until then, may you be well, may you be at peace, and may you be loved and be able to see something or someone to be grateful for [00:13:00] today. It might sound very simple, but gratitude really does matter. [00:14:00]