What Gratefulness Means
One of my favorite things I’ve started during quarantine is pen-paling and, when you’re trying to get to know someone, the best method’s usually just asking questions. In my first round of letters, a common question I always asked was “How has 2020 been unexpectedly good?” We all know the ways 2020 has been unexpectedly terrible- COVID-19, racial injustice, political division, financial struggles, mental health, and so much more- but, despite that, there has to be ways in which 2020 has been unexpectedly good. And that’s where gratefulness can step in for us this holiday season.
Gratefulness is not toxic positivity- forcing you to pretend that everything terrible is actually going great. Gratefulness asks you to see what may be good, what may be growing, and what may be life-giving regardless of what’s around you.
Here at Beyond Thought, part of our mission is to give space to that which is good, that which brings ideas and, ultimately, life to your eyes. As you look at art, literature, and design, it can force you to see something different than what is normally around you. A lot of times art is about pain, but it’s also about beauty, about life, and about purpose. All of those are things you can be grateful for regardless of what’s happening right now. Those of us who love the arts, creativity, and meaning know how to look for those exact things around us- even when they’re harder to find.
Just like a poet often has to sit and think to focus on their subject, we also sometimes have to sit and think to focus on gratitude. We have a lot to be grateful for that has nothing to do with us and exists around us. It’s just a question of whether we stop and look. Thanksgiving is fast-approaching and it is certain to look different than past ones. You may feel isolated, anxious, or overwhelmed in the middle of a seemingly unending pandemic. There’s a lot out of our control right now. However, perhaps this is the perfect time to carve out time to focus on the good things that we don’t control either. The sudden spark of ideas, the flow of inspiration, the cycles and rhythms of life and nature, the silent, consistent processes that keep us and the world alive, the constant stream of creation, or the beautiful complexity of our own emotions and intricacies. For you, maybe this looks like a gratitude list or mentally noting things you appreciate. It could produce an idea, a poem, or an artwork of your own. It could be simply pausing every time you find something beautiful and good, savoring it, and letting yourself just be grateful it exists.
Gratitude is a powerful thing. Scientists, psychologists, therapists, and spiritual leaders all think so for a reason- because it retrains your brain to look for the beautiful over the terrible, without pretending the terrible isn’t there. Gratitude helps you come to peace with both sides of this uncontrollable and complex universe as it brings both pain and beauty into our lives.
As Thanksgiving comes and goes, us here at Beyond Thought hope you learn to give thanks throughout the year and especially as we enter an unusual and complex holiday season. It may be the best thing you can do for yourself right now.
