Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday – even when I was a little girl. It isn’t the Black Friday shopping, football watching or the pie. I avoid all three. It’s the opportunity to reflect on my blessings.With Thanksgiving, there’s no pressure to find or get the perfect gift. No disappointment when what you most covet – a 4-carat diamond ring, the latest MacBook PRO, or a gigantic book deal – doesn’t magically appear on Christmas morning. Instead, the only goal is to cultivate gratitude. And it’s within that space where real magic happens.
I’ve had some great Thanksgivings, including the one in 2008 when my now-husband proposed. I’ve also navigated a few tumultuous turkey days. But whether I was 24-hours post adrenalectomy or sentenced to a hospital bed waiting to birth twins, I have always been able to channel my inner Pollyanna and celebrate my blessings.
Giving Thanks on the Page
Essay writers often focus on trauma, especially in my classes, but Thanksgiving offers an opportunity to step away from that – to squash the pain, heartache and resentment – and turn your energy (and your writing) toward love and appreciation.
Each year before the holiday hits, I carve out time to write a letter of gratitude – usually one that’s long overdue. Last year, I wrote about the stranger in Trader Joe’s who offered a helping hand mid-meltdown. The year before, I explored how a remarkably cool professor helped me find myself in the midst of a medical crisis. And this year, well, I’ll be writing a letter to the hummingbirds I’ve begun stalking in an attempt to connect with my dead dad.
The most cathartic letters though, are invariably addressed to someone who wronged me – the 7th grade teacher who told me I’d never be a writer, the seemingly devoted beau who cheated on me and the childhood friend who didn’t invite me to her birthday party. In each case, I was able to step back into the experience and see how it changed me – how it launched me on a path to wholeness and thanksgiving.
Profiting from Gratitude
Increasingly, editors are running essays penned in unique ways. I’ve seen writers dialogue with their grief on the page, write to an ex-lover or even a former friend. Just last week I read a published letter to a would-be grandpa that moved me to tears and a second to a future daughter-in-law that made me think, “I hear you, sister!” It seems writing letters helped these authors get to the heart of their message without a lot of heavy lifting.
Liz Gilbert famously admits that every time she sits down to write, she has an audience of one in mind – and no, it’s not herself. In fact, she selects a different solo audience for each and every project, striving to speak directly to that person through story.
Maybe that’s why letter writing is so wildly effective in terms of getting the words on the page. Your writing already has a purpose: To communicate a truth with one person – and that makes your message all the more real for your reader.
Cultivating Gratitude
Ready to get started? Write a gratitude letter. Better yet, write your letter, sell it and send a link to the piece to your intended recipient with the sign off, “Gobble Gobble.” No matter what you choose to do, I hope you’ll find some quiet time before the month ends to cultivate gratitude.