Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is always a wonderful time of the year. It’s a time with family. The only things you must buy are the ingredients for something tasty and enough gas to take you home. It’s also a time where people focus on what they are thankful for and they share it freely. Inevitably someone will ask the question, “Why aren’t we more thankful year-round? Why can’t we keep this up?” and you see people start to try but it tends to drop off. I have a theory… to borrow from Grantland’s Bill Simmons… it’s really a half-baked theory that I have just started working on, but I think there may be something there (and I am definitely open to additional thoughts).

Why aren’t we more Thankful?

My theory is that true thankfulness requires one thing that most of us would rather shy away from. It requires us to constantly take inventory of who and what we ourselves really are. And when I say that I mean, an unfiltered look. We all are willing to pick out certain flaws that we have that we’re ok with. They are pet flaws that if people ask we can highlight and appear to have a humble attitude. But what I’m talking about is an inventory that includes all of the things that plenty of people are aware of, but we would rather deny or project onto others. It needs to include the good as well, but most of us don’t struggle as much with that side of things.

Now why do we need that inventory? Good question! Thanks. You’re Welcome.

The inventory is necessary because you really can’t realize everything you have to be thankful for until you really understand the willingness that others have to put up with or ignore all of the garbage, or how blessed we are to have been given people/things in our life that fall in line with what we like most. The constant need for the inventory is necessary to keep it in the forefront of your mind which will help you be quick to be thankful. Now that may seem a bit convoluted, so let’s take a short, shallow case study to try to give a handful of examples:

Our volunteer is a mid-30’s, slightly overweight bald man we will call JC:

• JC has a temper
• JC is not as good looking as he thinks he is
• JC is not as patient with his kids as he should be
• JC is driven and can step on others
• JC isn’t good at initiating communication
• JC isn’t as loving or caring as he likes to think he is
• JC isn’t as good of an example of how to be a husband and father as he likes to think he is
• JC is a decent athlete, but not as good as he thinks
• JC can be quite charismatic
• JC likes to be the center of attention
• JC works his tail off
• JC is slightly above average on the “funny” scale
• JC cares a lot about the people he cares about
• JC is willing to make tough decisions and take responsibility if it is wrong
• JC loves his family very deeply
• JC is fairly intelligent

Ok, this is only a subset of a true inventory (like 4% of what it could be), but you get the picture. Now how does that produce thanksgiving? If you are willing to do it, you can find plenty of things related to each one of those real attributes of your character to be thankful for. Again, short examples just as food for thought:

• JC has a temper – He is thankful that it has never REALLY gotten him in as much trouble as it could have. He is thankful that his wife is willing to stick with him through it all.
• JC is not as good looking as he thinks he is – He is REALLY thankful that his wife finds him attractive. 
• JC is not as patient with his kids as he should be – He is really thankful that he has such good kids who love him.
• JC is driven and can step on others – He is thankful for the forgiveness of others and for having opportunities to apply his driven nature in a positive way.
• JC isn’t good at initiating communication – He is thankful to have friends and family that don’t take offense, but are willing to pick up communication right where it was left off previously.
• JC isn’t as loving or caring as he likes to think he is – He is thankful to have people in his life that are more loving and caring in his direction than he could possibly deserve.
• JC isn’t as good of an example of how to be a husband and father as he likes to think he is – He is thankful for wonderful children that he gets to enjoy and a wife who is very good at cherishing the good parts of him.
• JC is a decent athlete, but not as good as he thinks – He is thankful for opportunities to get to play sports and exercise those competitive urges.
• JC can be quite charismatic – He is thankful for having a job where interacting with people is a key responsibility.
• JC likes to be the center of attention – He is thankful that he has family that doesn’t mind it. 
• JC works his tail off – He is thankful for bosses that acknowledge that and appreciate it.
• JC is slightly above average on the “funny” scale – He is very thankful that his wife puts up with the cheesy side and still likes the rest.
• JC cares a lot about the people he cares about – He is thankful for each of those relationships that he gets to be a part of.
• JC is willing to make tough decisions and take responsibility if it is wrong – He is thankful that it is appreciated at work.
• JC loves his family very deeply – He is so thankful that they reciprocate
• JC is fairly intelligent – He is very thankful for environments in life where he can use that ability.

There are a lot more characteristics and there are a lot more things that he is thankful for even on these topics that he could go into, but a case study is just to give you an example. I’m willing to bet that if you do a real inventory and keep it at the front of your mind, it will do amazing things to your thankfulness and your willingness to share that with others all year round.

To everyone in my life… I am thankful for you and thankful for all that you add to my life.

Happy Thanksgiving!