Exercising Gratitude: Doin' the Three Step, sans Trypting 

Natural Pairings: Like Psychology and Math (see 11/17)

                                      Rogers and Astaire (man, could they ever...step!), Bogie and Bergman...

                                      Sir Elton and Dua Lipa...🎝

                                      Turkey and Goose (what a Deal! see below)

                                      Viral and Vicissitudes (?!)

                                      November and Gratitude...

For Everything a Season, a Month, Day...As in November now being set aside as National Gratitude Month, officially as of August, 2015, Thanks! in part to Stacey Grewal (author of "Gratitude and Goals"), who submitted the request. This, according to National Day Calendar, which pretty much guarantees there is a day for everything and everything(s) a day, as there are 1500 'National Days', so you can pretty much guarantee there is not only a season and month but also a day for "Everything under the sun" (Ecclesiastes)...yes, even time set aside for being grateful. Probably not a coincidence that it is also the month within which Thanksgiving falls. I guess the curmudgeons among us can be thankful that they only have to offer up their thanks and gratitude once per year, for once upon a time there was a...

Turkey Twofer! For a few years, that is/was. FDR, in August of 1939, with the best of intentions (and with the urging of a ton of retailers, who otherwise would not have been sufficiently brazen back then to openly suggest early shopping, before Thanksgiving), made an executive order (a term we have become more than familiar with, not always with gratitude) to 'trump' that of "Honest Abe" from 1863, in an attempt to boost, aka GOOSE! the economy, moved up Thanksgiving one week. After which chaos ensued, a divided nation (and you think we are divided?!), with some continuing to celebrate a week later, some on the date set aside by FDR (dubbed "Franksgiving" by some adversaries and humorists of the day), and yet a third group cooking two turkeys, two weeks in a row (!). Eventually, while celebrating victory associated with yet another term in office (for which he was VERY thankful), FDR conceded defeat, admitting that this recipe, while conceived in the crucible of good taste, turned out to be a real...Turkey.

Staging Gratitude (?!): Like the author of Ecclesiastes cites, there is a time for grief (the stages of which we have become familiar from both experience and articles written on our behalf), as well as gratitude (well, not specifically named as gratitude, but certainly in spirit). But do we really have to train ourselves to practice something that should be so automatic, through three stages...as suggested by a family law firm (graciously brought to you throughout the whole year, especially those of you who are "transitioning" from an unwelcome change, sound real familiar?), which include "Recognition", "Acknowledgement", and "Appreciation"...sounds easy enough. But did ya' know, according to two pop life coaches, authors, "admirers of the human spirit", who have sufficient number of followers to sustain them, about which they are VERY thankful, instruct us to be aware and practice TWELVE (can't we keep it to an even Ten, as those Moses was weighed down by, lugged down Mt. Sinai way before Thanksgiving was ever a 'thing'?)...starting with #1: The more you are in such a state (i.e., gratitude), the more you will attract things to be grateful for (a Thanksgiving magnet!)...through #12 (if you can make it): Letting go of control multiplies the potential for gratitude (go ahead, have another piece of pumpkin pie😀!). All good, helpful guide to gratitude, but come on, twelve steps, especially if sedated by tryptophan (the research about which suggests this, too has been overstated), can't we boil them down with the potatoes, to just a few, like doing "The Three Step" I introduced You to here -- or at least intended to, implied them on more than one occasion -- a simple Three Step routine we can all do before and after the big meal, the three steps to managing feelings (including the one of interest today, GRATITUDE😂)...which simply include 1) Identification of feeling of the moment; 2) ('weighing') Options for how to engage the feeling; and 3) Evaluation of the after effects, the post-game ('post-meal' in this case) analysis, in advance of the next encounter. In the meantime, I have my own three I need to engage, as in on this very day, as in...

A Hop, a Skip, and a...Leap! Or an Olympic size jump all the way back and over 263 posts (will need to ingest/digest lots of Turkey) to May 5, 2020, a reminder to me primarily and to You secondarily, as to why I started this blog and why I remain committed to continue posting here with a degree of regularity, until such a time that this p------c is finally, once and for ALL, by some panel of experts, WHOever, declared over. In the meantime, I am prompted to pause with the rest of You, to offer my gratitude to some highly deserving individuals and groups, many of which I have covered here in several posts, to whom we will remain in debt and thankful for many years post-p------c, about which I will conveniently divide into yet another set of three: 1) All the frontliners, including health care, safety, service men and women, the seen and unseen (e.g. night shift ICU/schools cleaning staff), vaccine researchers/developers all those who risk exposure themselves while lowering our risks, sacrificing their sleep so we can ourselves rest...all those who collectively will ultimately lead to a victory over CV-19 and its variants, in spite of ourselves; 2) Supply liners -- all those involved who continue to work indefatigably (despite government financial disincentives) to both manufacture (including those overseas, hope this reaches you), and then ship, truck, train, Uber! etc., deliver to our doorstep, swipe the bar codes (e.g., grocery clerks, among a legion of others to which we should always say "Thank you for being here")...I'm sure I'm missing some but you get the idea, the WHOLE SUPPLY CHAIN GANG, from Farm to Table, from a world away to our cupboards, from/ to...and (get ready, an unsuspecting group, to which I have not yet issued gratitude); 3) Aspiring leaders in both government and NGO's (as they are commonly referred to on BBC) and (pure) journalists -- those who lead with integrity and humility, who report in a similar manner, allowing, encouraging, provoking us to exercise our minds, stand up for our convictions with our own integrity and humility, reach our own conclusions and finally, be inspired to serve others. I owe you THANKS! in advance, gratitude with interest.

       Oh yeah, also, before I start my pre-turkey workout, I owe, and am grateful for, the originator of this site as well as my techie son who set it up for me (see May 5, 2020, Thanks again "Blogger.com" and Christopher!), the rest of my family for timely words of encouragement, and YOU who continue to read, comment, and inspire more posts, after all. Thanksgiving Blessings to All!