Tracking Gratitude November 2023 — Days 1-6

A month of thinking and reflecting on gratitude.

Sun setting in the distance, November 2023. A. Cowen

As I explained in my Sunday post, I have decided to move my gratitude musings for the month here. November is traditionally a gratitude-focused month, one I really give into and spend a lot of time writing (or podcasting) about. I set the stage in a recent post (and in Episode 489), with some suggestions to nudge you to focus on gratitude this month, too.

This post may end up being a catchall for my gratitude thinking and tracking this month. I might leave it loose and flowy and unfinished. I might just add to it throughout the month, similar to the art project I have underway, a kitchen-sink gratitude post.

You Have to Look

I have had to remind myself this week that the looking is within my control. It isn’t something that necessarily happens on its own. You can drive down a street with the setting sun ahead of you and never notice the way the color blends and spreads. You can walk by a morning window and completely miss the warming of the sky and the first bits of color.

We so often forget to look, and then we wonder why we don’t see, why things seem stale, stagnant, still.

We have to craft and nurture and nourish and strengthen and fortify the cloak.

I am going to keep this post walled. I apologize to those of you who have enjoyed open access to all of my work through the years. I am looking at this post as a meditation ground, a place I can be self-accountable to my gratitude month. It may be that the entire month ends up here, added to over time. Or there may be a few posts like this one. In times where everything feels so very exposed, this feels like the right move.