As we all prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, I’ve become fixated on gratitude. In fact, I think it should be called Gratitude-Giving Day instead, because that term seems to capture the deeper, more significant and intrinsic meaning and feeling of the holiday. Gratitude is the quality of being thankful, a readiness to show appreciation for and return kindness. It’s an attitude, a frame of mind, a viewpoint—a decided way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in our behavior.

Gratitude is also a state of being, something long-lasting and definitional of who we are, rather than just something we do. In fact, our instruction manual, the Bible, has a lot to say about gratitude. It's most simply and clearly stated in 1Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” It looks like we were built for gratitude.

Thankfulness is a reaction—a temporary emotional response—whereas gratitude is a chosen and desired state of being that doesn’t depend on an action by something or someone else. Although gratitude and thankfulness are closely related, gratitude gives us sustained feelings of satisfaction and well-being. Practicing gratitude has proven to offer many benefits. While it is good that we have a holiday devoted to togetherness and enumerating the things we are thankful for, I'm choosing to practice gratitude every day, because it stays with me longer, gives me joy from the inside and out, and most of all, positively impacts everyone I come in contact with.

In our Inspiration department, "Gratitude is Good Medicine,” Mahida Saeed encourages us to make gratitude a daily practice. That includes keeping a gratitude journal and naming 10 things you're grateful when you wake up each morning. In my gratitude journal, I write at least three things I'm grateful for. Often, it's many more than three, and then some days, I'm pressed to come up with three. It's on those days, when I have to dig deep to come up with things I'm grateful for, that I get the most out of this practice. Those are the times that make me realize God’s daily blessings—a good night's sleep; a long, elevating, satisfying conversation with family or friends; a good workout to help me take care of my body and my health; an enlightening chat with a client or colleague; or being able to help someone else achieve their goals or help them in some other practical way.

To me, gratitude is the opposite of anxiety—they can’t coexist in the same space and time. In fact, Ronica O’Hara recommends some gratitude practices in our Healing Ways department, “12 Quick Fixes for Anxiety.”

This month's issue is all about well-being, the bedrock of mental health, which is unbreakably connected to physical heath; each affects the other. We also have an eye-opening article on the gut-mind connection by Dr. Phyliss Gee, a North Texas functional medicine practitioner. This month’s Conscious Eating department is a perfect complement to Dr. Gee’s article, with some "mind-lifting" recipes that are sure to please.

As you begin this year's holiday season in the new normal, with the constant barrage of negative news designed to steal your attention, we hope that you too, will focus on well-being—that is, the art of judging life positively and feeling good and healthy.

We also hope you will find much here to help you on your journey to living a healthier life on a healthy planet, and that you will have a blessed and joyful Thanksgiving. Remember to make that attitude of gratitude last as long as you can—at least for the next two months.

Blessings until next month,