Merci Beaucoup: Being thankful makes us all feel a little better

Being thankful takes acknowledgement.

There’s a lot to be thankful for: our families, friends, healthy babies, happy dogs, long walks in the park, cats, a roof over our heads, and pizza. Lots of pizza.

There’s also not a lot of time in the day.

In the middle of a busy workday, I often get the urge to text my sister and tell her just how awesome I think she is and how thankful I am she’s in my life—but a text doesn’t really go the whole way. It’s a small and simple gesture—a text of thanks warms us up & makes us feel good—but I wish I could do a little more.

While the big gestures are best saved for big moments, there are days when we want to let someone know they’re doing great, they’re special to us, or to thank them for sending us that super awesome book we’d been eyeing at the local bookstore for months.

Thank-you cards get the job done. They have a little extra love in them as our handwriting moves from us to them, and they act like a list of the good things going on around us.

Your dog is super cute & so are you.

I love being thankful for my life.

Concentrating on the good stuff brightens the entire day. It keeps the tricky little demons in the corner. Each time I start to get down, I begin a mantra about how I’m not alone, there’s awesome people around me, and I remember that I made rent last month.

I think about being healthy, about the distance between me and the days I survived on peanut butter sandwiches, and the awesome fact that technology allowed me to watch my nephew crawl for the first time while it was actually happening.

I think about good books and writing utensils. I think about my partner’s cute dog.

These are my happy things.

I enjoy recognizing your importance.

Life can be a bit rough sometimes. Even when things are seemingly smooth, we start to feel weary.

It’s easy to say that thinking about good things will help us feel better. But in honesty, we know it takes more work than that. Feeling solid, happy, and like we’re in a good place takes constant nurturing...our own little garden of happy thoughts.

Thank-you cards are not just for gratitude over gifts. They give us a chance to write out our thanks, to meditate on our joys, to acknowledge another’s significance.

Sitting down, writing out why we care about someone is like a micro-hug you can put a stamp on.

Thank-you cards move the thoughts of thanks outside our heads and into the safe, protected space of paper. They bring our gratitude into the world.

Best wishes, Loretta

From around the net, we’re super into Cloutier Ceramics. http://www.cloutierceramics.com

Julie Cloutier is a California ceramicist who creates incredibly beautiful housewares & objects reflective of a rural, minimalist environment. These unique pieces speak to the cherishing of simple things, and make an excellent gift for someone we’re extra thankful for.

(See these Illustrated Cups, and much more by visiting: http://www.cloutierceramics.com/limited-edition/cloutier-x-mccalmanco-collaboration)

Write down something you love, something simple that makes you happy. Keep it on your monitor or bathroom mirror. Everytime you see it, it’ll make you smile. You deserve it! xo