30 days of thankfulness (November 2011)

People all over the Internet gave thanks this month. Every day we paused and sent our gratitude and thanks out into the Universe with a tweet, a blog post, a photo, etc. This year I thought I would participate by posting a message to Twitter and Facebook. Each day I noticed myself waking up and thinking of things for which I was grateful. Each day I paused, reflected, and pondered. I take many things for granted, so I hope I can continue to reflect upon the people, places, and things for which I am grateful each day. I wanted to capture each of the posts on my blog so I can look back and reflect on the things for which I was most thankful this month (and always).

My month of thankfulness:

1. I’m thankful for the inspiring men and women I’ve met through social media.
2. Thankful for this (delicious) coffee. Also, thankful for all the coffee I have had and all the coffee I will have in the future.
3. Electronic Dance Music especially Trance and Progressive House) brought me closer to myself, friends and the world and it makes me more productive and happy.
4. I am thankful for my friends. They love me, support, challenge, and support me, and make me a better person each day.
5. Thankful for family - their sacrifices, love, resilience. Especially thankful for my brother. Also, my cat.
6. Thankful for my past. All of it – darkness and light. Each moment helped me become the person I am (and love) today.
7. Thankful for my neti pot. And for the first person who suggested I use one.
8. Thankful for those who sacrifice(d) so much to help the world on its journey to rise above discrimination, ignorance, and hate. Thankful for progress and change. Thankful I can light a candle in the darkness. Today I am thankful I can vote because of those sacrifices and that progress.
9. Thankful for relationships that remain strong despite political and religious differences. Thankful for those friends whose religious and political beliefs align with mine. Thankful we can help each other grow by having intelligent, kind, and honest conversations.
10. Thankful for teachers/professors who helped push me in the direction of my dreams (and those who supported me, challenged me, accepted me, and who lifted me up.
11. Thankful for my chiropractor who has helped keep me (mostly) pain-free for a year.
12. On Veteran’s Day, I’m thankful for men and women who sacrifice(d) so much all over the world. Thankful for their families (and mine) who also make/ made sacrifices. Especially thankful that my friends and family have always come home safe (a blessing many don’t experience and it breaks my heart.)
13. I am thankful I made the choice to take better care of myself this year. Thankful for trainers who pushed me and helped me get stronger and healthier this year. Thankful for the feeling of empowerment that comes with setting measurable goals and conquering them through hard work (like those 60 consecutive push ups I can do now or a resting heart rate of 51 bpm). Thankful to be happy in my skin. Strong is the new skinny.
14. Thankful for airplanes. Mostly, I’m thankful I can visit my friends all over the world and that they can come visit me.
15. Thankful for my lab mates and grad students in my program (and those I’ve met online over the years) who bring sunshine into a journey that can seem very dark at times. You know who you are. All grad programs are *not* created equal; and yet, there are common themes and experiences in most PhD programs (feelings of despair, self-doubt, fear, uncertainty; little positive or instant feedback; no concrete definition of success; hazing, as it were). I’m thankful we are all in this together, supporting each other as we habituate to the feeling of drowning. Just keep swimming, my brilliant, wonderful, and brave grad/law/med school homies.
16. Thankful for delicious beer – Pretty Things, Dogfish, Oskar Blues, Stone, and O’Connor (to name a few).
17. Thankful I took a risk this year and put myself out there in ways I hadn’t for quite some time (via online dating). Thankful for lessons learned – who I am, who I want to be, what I need, and what I want. Thankful I’ve made some great friends in the process (despite some bumps in the road). Today’s was inspired by this Note from the Universe: “Once one passes through the entry gates of time and space, it may be handy to know that simply dwelling upon joy, abundance, or anything else involving people, will literally draw complete strangers into your life, as if they were puppets on marionette strings. Creating new and totally unpredictable circumstances that will bring you more, more, more of whatever you were thinking about.”
18. Thankful to be a little closer to the light at the end of this tunnel called grad school.
19. Thankful for participants who show up for our experiments (especially on Saturday). Thankful for friends who are also here collecting data all day. Thankful I’m NOT doing team research now.
20. Thankful for breaks during school. Sure, we all end up catching up on school work for a few days because we don’t have class and meetings, but I’m thankful for the break nonetheless. This year I am taking three days OFF for Thanksgiving so I can bake, spend time with family and friends, and prep for the holidays.
21. Thankful I live in a neighborhood like Ghent where everything I need (e.g., movies, food, drinks,shopping, local produce, etc.) is just a 10-20 minute walk away.
22. As a grad student, I am thankful for the equipment and software we all have in our labs so we can do research (e.g., eye tracker, distributed games, driving and medical simulators, nice computers/monitors, smart board, BCIs, physio monitors, etc.).
23. Thankful for first world problems. Thankful for such a great reminder from David K. Israel.
24. Our almost vegan Thanksgiving = Garlic stir fried broccoli, kale/beet salad with pine nuts, pecan maple sweet potatoes, coconut almond green bean casserole, chunky spiced apple sauce, relish plate, Tofurkey with wild rice and vegan gravy, a grilled turkey, turkey gravy, mushroom dressing (stuffing), two vegan pumpkin pies, and chocolate pumpkin cake. Thankful for this food, but mostly thankful I can spend this day with my family.
25. Co-working with my brother all day before we head out to see Nightmare Before Christmas at the Naro with a great friend.
26. So much work. So much anxiety. Thankful I’m healthier/happier than I was last year at this time though! Progress.
27. Thankful for sunshine. Took advantage of beautiful weather as often as possible because I miss it when it goes into hiding in the winter.
28. Thankful for my car and my apartment, two things I take for granted too often.
29. I am thankful for the ways in which a decade of practicing yoga (even if it’s been on and off) seeps into my daily life now, especially when I am in panic mode around the end of the semester. Deep breaths. Stay grounded. In with the love, out with the baggage. Universal love. Stillness. Acknowledge the noise, then move on. Emotions are just information. Namaste.
30. Thankful I participated in 30 days of thankfulness. Waking up each morning and pondering “thankfulness” is a beautiful thing.

~~~

What were you most thankful for this month? Did you participate in 30 days of thankfulness/gratitude online this year? What did you learn about yourself by reflecting upon your gratitude each day?