A friend asked “What is Thanksgiving all about?”
There is the traditional answer about the Pilgrims and the Indians, but Thanksgiving as a national holiday has a shorter history.
The holiday was first celebrated on the same date by all states in 1863. The idea was largely the product of author Sarah Josepha Hale, who wrote letters to politicians for 40 years urging the creation of an official holiday. Lincoln set the date as the last Thursday in November in order to try to encourage a sense of American unity between the Northern and Southern states.
The idea of a harvest thanksgiving celebration has a much longer history. Almost every culture has had some celebration at the end of the harvest.
Thinking about writing this post, our mind drifted back to a week that has been extraordinarily hard. So many, many people have been in crisis.
We have spent hours with people struggling with severe depression, trying to help them find some hope.
A couple of days ago we talked to a researcher from San Diego State University, Nader Amir, who has been developing a computer program to train people to shift their attention from things that provoke anxiety (and depression) to things that are more positive.
So far the studies have been positive, suggesting that it may be possible to teach people different habits of thought.
In almost every situation, and in almost every interaction, there is a mix of positive and negative motivations. A partner says that he is sick of all of the arguing in a relationship, there is anger in that statement, of course, but there is also a wish for things to be better, for more closeness. What do we focus on?
We have a small measure of choice, perhaps we almost always think about negative possibilities, but we do have the ability to turn our attention to those things that are positive, as well.
Giving thanks is a way of turning our minds to things that were positive, that we can feel grateful for. Doing so is not just selfless, it also helps us to feel more positive about the world we live in.
Giving thanks is one of the things that we can do for ourselves that also enriches the world we live in. We turn our minds to things that we are grateful for, and it makes us feel the wish to be kinder, to connect more with others.