A beautiful thing called gratitude

Hi Sweet Humans,

November is here and the holiday season is coming! I’ve always loved this time of year. Today last year, I was looking forward to seeing and spending time with my parents on Christmas. 2020 is a very peculiar year. Now, all we know is that the only certain thing is uncertainty. Is there going to be another lockdown? Will the international travel ban be lifted? Can people gather around for parties like we usually do by the end of the year? No one knows.

Amidst the pandemic, a lot of historical and important things are happening all over the world too. Nationwide protests in Poland, #EndSARS in Nigeria, earthquake and tsunami in Turkey and election in the US.

It is a very challenging time and it’s hard not to be overwhelmed mentally and get carried away emotionally.

Today I woke up, sat down and remembered what Aliyah said during our interview not too long ago. She mentioned that the first thing we can do is to stop looking outside ourselves and reconnect to humanity and our capacity to feel.

I sat down, reflected and wrote down things I’m grateful for. Then I went fishing. I asked questions and dug deeper. I was blown away by the never ending discoveries of truths within. I realised that this exercise of recognising the goodness I experience, appreciating what I have and expressing them authentically is really creating a massive impact for myself. 

I discovered that with all the things happening around, life still gives me gifts everyday in different forms. 

I now know that if I started from within, I will have a stronger ground and look at things more wisely. There is where I feel the warmth tingling and eventually I find happiness.

Feeling this experience, I decided to make this month’s newsletter topic to be about gratitude and gratefulness. Let’s back to the basic first. Harvard Medical School defines gratitude as “a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives … As a result, gratitude also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals–whether to other people, nature, or a higher power”

To me, gratitude is recognising all the blessings we receive, acknowledge and appreciate them and then express them in a form of action.

What does gratitude mean to you? Please share it in the comments below!

Next week I’m going to share with you more about this topic. Make sure you subscribe to Isabelle Moon’s newsletter so you don’t miss anything.

Love,

Meghan