In the spirt of Thanks-Giving,

I thought it appropriate to write about the 3 gratitudes. For those who aren't familiar with the 3 gratitudes it's a writing exercise you do at the end of each day, noting in a journal 3 things you were grateful for that happened within the last 24 hours. Eventually the concept is that you will look for those things in your day to day more effortlessly. Sometimes you see the worst in people, and you're forced to smile through it, and the thoughts you have about it effect you long-term and build resentment. Training yourself to look for moments you're grateful for is training yourself to focus on the positive, but in a way that is on your terms.

Today was Thanksgiving in the states, and my partner and I had planned to do a meal just the two of us this year, rather than visiting family. We both had work Thanksgiving night, and honestly didn't want to make the trip. I ended up falling sick the day before Thanksgiving-- a bad cold -- and had to find coverage for my shift tonight. I'm incredibly thankful that my co-worker was willing to work in my place, especially knowing he hadn't volunteered to in the first place. I'll make him some cookies in appreciation, I think.

I still had a lot to do though, being that I already planned to cook a full meal for us. My partner isn't terribly experienced when it comes to cooking, so thanksgiving wouldn't be a great learning experience. I prepared a lot the night before, making sure I had a cooking schedule planned out, and any prep work done before going to bed. It was my first Thanksgiving where I did the cooking, and I'm honestly so proud of how well it turned out. It all ended up finishing around the same time, and I was able to make a lot of our favorite dishes. I'm incredibly grateful that nothing went wrong with recipes I chose to try, and that tea got me through my first thanksgiving as the cook! (I also messaged my mother, and thanked her for every Thanksgiving she made that seemed so effortless!)

My partner, True, is usually somewhere on my list. Boy tidied up the kitchen before I started cooking, and was so grateful and proud of what I was able to accomplish while being under the weather. Truthfully I think we both weren't expecting too much -- I was in pretty rough shape, but he really was very vocal about his appreciation of all the hard work I put into it. He's not a very public person when it comes to social media, but he made a very sweet-not-sappy post, praising me to his friends and family. Which was all together flattering and unexpected.

I don't feel like Thanksgiving in itself is a very important holiday, and a lot of people don't celebrate it, for personal reasons, but I think the tradition of expressing gratitude should not be limited to one day. Appreciating the small things that otherwise would have gone unnoticed, is a way to inhibit your own negativity. By teaching yourself to see your environment in a different way, you're taking steps towards control. Control over your own mental outlook and health. Your on the journey towards personal satisfaction, productivity, and contentment.

Thank you for joining me on my own journey,

Luuz

Afterthought

I'm trying to think of some good ideas to add to my blogs to make it more engaging. I know I'm good at walls of text, and my posts would benefit from brevity -- but I'm open to ideas on content that I can include with the post itself. Would pictures, paintings or drawings I did, even if unrelated, be interesting? Or perhaps audio/video of this type of discussion included, rather than full walls of text? If anyone has any suggestions of articles to add to my blogging research or steemit in general, I'd be most interested! The picture I've included this time around is of my kittens, Charlie and Louise cuddling.