This time of year brings many emotions to the surface, as holidays tend to do! I have a double whammy around now – my birthday and Thanksgiving, always a few days apart. Birthdays make me reflective of all the time I have spent on this planet, and the people I have been lucky enough to have in my life- surrounding me and sustaining me in good times and bad. The people who made a difference in my life. And the Thanksgiving holiday asks us to focus on celebrations of gratitude for the “harvest” of having enough, gratitude for our families and our blessings.
With this in mind, I felt it would be appropriate to share a creative activity from the chapter on Celebration in our book. The exercise is called “No Strings Attached” and requires nothing more than continuing to read the rest of this blog. Easy!
“Throughout the years, there are people who have made a difference in our lives, who have touched us by being helpful, supportive, encouraging. They contributed to our well-being, without asking for anything in return. Perhaps these gifts that we were given at an earlier age only became clearer with time. As time slips away, we sometimes don’t get the chance to go back and acknowledge our appreciation of their gifts to us, for many reasons. Perhaps we’ve lost touch; perhaps we don’t know where they are or perhaps they are no longer living.
Creative goal: to create a symbol of gratitude for selected people who have made a difference in your life.
Supplies: as needed. Be as creative as you can!
Directions: Write down 3 people who have positively touched your life in some way. For each of those individuals, write down why they are important to you. Be descriptive and as specific as possible. Decide on a symbolic representation of that person. It could be as simple as a feather or a flower that you find on a walk, or poetry that you write, or some artwork that you create.
Then, write that person a letter describing what their gift meant to you, and the symbolic meaning of that gift you were given. If you have the ability to send the letter, by all means, go ahead! But as mentioned above, that may not be possible, so just keep the letter and symbol in a special “remembrance” space.
This process of acknowledging your gratitude for their help is very powerful; it lends perspective, connects you to positive experiences in your life, and may spark an interest for you to “pass it forward” – to make a difference in someone else’s life, with no strings attached.”
We hope this week brings you together with those you love and the opportunity to “pass it forward” in some small way. Celebrate your life with joy and a little pumpkin pie (and maybe a slice of pecan pie too!) Suzanne & Patty
New Events: 2 Holiday Boutiques in Ojai with lots of unique gifts! Dec.3 and Dec. 9. Details here