Thanksgiving provides us with an opportunity to pause, gather with friends and family to give thanks for our food and blessings. It’s also a wonderful reminder of how interconnected we are to each other.
If we tracked the trail of the food placed upon our Thanksgiving tables from seed to serving dish, we would have hundreds of hands to thank! Maybe even thousands…
Growing up on a potato farm created a deep appreciation within me for the work it takes to produce food on a large scale for people to consume throughout the year.
It begins with planting a seed, tediously tending the crops over the summer months until harvest time arrives. Harvest is a time when the feeling of abundance is palpable, as one small seed has transformed into many large potatoes; it’s a bit magical.
A bountiful harvest is celebrated, now comes another tending phase. Each potato must be stored, packed, and transported in exactly the right temperature and conditions to arrive successfully in the market.
My guess is, this is where most of us now carefully select our food from an array of options. We are now ready to start the final phase of the journey, the preparation and presentation phase.
As we place each dish on the table creating a visual masterpiece, we begin to feel a welling up of gratitude. We sit down to a beautiful table full of delicious nourishment and give thanks.
This is only a brief glimpse into what it takes to get one vegetable on your table. Before you are in the thick of cooking, seasoning and plating, take a few quiet moments to imagine shaking hands with each person who helped make your dinner possible. Look them in their eye and say thank you.
We get caught up in our lives and it becomes easy to forget all we have to be grateful for. A few years ago, I started a nightly practice before I go to sleep to help me connect to life in a more meaningful way.
Each night as I settle into bed, I reflect on my day and say thank you for everything the day presented to me. Yes, everything, even the things that perhaps didn’t go so well and many times those are the things I’m most grateful for!
Gratitude is a powerful practice and it continues to raise my awareness of how people I don’t know affect my life in a positive way. It creates connection. What and who are you grateful for today?
I wish each of you a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday with your family and friends! If you would like to chat about creating a gratitude practice in your life, click here and sign up for a complimentary discovery session with me today.