Practical gratitude

My phrase for the year is “with form and with thanks”. I want to focus on process and how I hold myself and I want to focus on gratitude and reciprocity. I wrote more about why in my end of 2020 reflections. So today I want to look forward to some practical steps on how I can make that happen and document it too.

It wouldn’t be one of my blog posts if that didn’t also mean illustrations, graphics and tools you can use going forward too.

Map the things you’re grateful for

Just like mapping the lessons I’d learned over the last decade at the start of last year, I’ve started with an exercise that I wanted to share with you but ended up being so valuable for me in the form of mapping the things for which I’m grateful. I tried to start at the most basic things I’m thankful for and then work my way up to the existential. There was too much to put into one little map of my heart, but know that it’s overflowing now. As you make your own map or list try to trace each thread of thanks to its sources; I’m thankful to be breathing means I’m thankful for my lungs, for them being nurtured and strengthened as I grew, for the air that passes through them being breathable because of the work of plants. The more threads you pull on the more you become aware of how woven together we all are with each other, the world around us and our pasts.

I should also say that I am grateful for the work of the brilliant Margaret Kimball for inspiring this illustrated map.

Keep an ongoing gratitude log

I’ve made this gratitude log that you can print, or just use as a template, as a way to keep track of the things that you become grateful for as the hours, days and weeks go on through the year. I don’t know how frequent a practice this will be for me, right now I’m aiming to do something weekly in this style but we’ll see as practice the process. Each card has space to include a description, photo, memento or sketch of the thing you’re thankful for, a space to trace its thread back to the source, and most importantly a space to capture the action you’re going to take in reciprocity. One of the passages that has stayed with me from Braiding Sweetgrass, which was the book that got me thinking about reciprocity and the environment, is where Robin Wall Kimmerer talks about taking her students into nature and their discussions of how they might pay their thanks for the land and plants that had looked after them for their trip. Their list was so varied and imaginative. Showing reciprocity for the things you’re grateful for, the gifts you’ve received, can take so many forms from a display of appreciation, acts of service, material support or even just paying it forward. 

Share your thanks whenever you can

I don’t think I could leave this post without sharing a little thank you card design. There are things that trigger our thanks, like when someone goes out of their way to help us, but I hope this card can be used to say thank you to all of the people who deserve thanks for a longer term, more under the radar, work. It’s easy to forget the fabric of service and support we’re a part of, hopefully the gratitude map helped you remember like it helped me. But that fabric deserves to be thanked and shown the same reciprocity and generosity of appreciation as any more eye catching acts. I sent mine to a friend I’ve leaned on but never thanked for their patience. 

Natalie