It’s that time of year again and the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend is fast approaching. This is a wonderful holiday as friends and family typically take the time to re-connect and engage in some quality time. The Thanksgiving holiday is also very non-commercialized unlike many other holidays we celebrate. I think that is something that makes this holiday unique.
However, I think we need to think critically about the term Thanksgiving Day.
It’s a very interesting day because we are often told we should be thinking about what we are thankful for. But I often ask myself “Why do we only focus on being thankful once a year?” I have similar thoughts on Valentine’s Day as well.
During this time, people often reflect on what they are thankful for:
Friends, family, relationships, food, employment, educators, health, reading, writing, etc…
Don’t get me wrong, I think it is great to give thanks but I think we need to deeply explore how we are giving thanks and how we can continue to give thanks throughout the year. It shouldn’t only happen once a year. We need to do more than simply tell ourselves what we’re thankful for. So, here is my Top 10 list of ways we can all give thanks throughout the year:
- The good old fashioned “HUG”
- A hand written thank you note
- Tell people specifically WHY you’re thankful
- Place an unexpected call to someone just to say thanks
- Buy the person you’re thanking a coffee and have a face to face conversation
- Netiquette – use social media like Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In, etc…
- Get creative and write a poem
- Share a picture that displays the direct result of how someone helped you
- Invite the person into your home for a meal
- Give a small token of appreciation for something they are interested in – Ex: movie passes
If you really liked option 1, take a look at this video on the Free Hugs Campaign. It just makes you feel good about giving a hug!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0]
On behalf of myself and the staff at Good Learning Anywhere and Sioux Hudson Literacy Council we would like to wish everyone a happy and safe lifelong journey of giving thanks.