Pre-Game Warm up for Thanksgiving ...

Are you sending Thanksgiving cards this year? There's enough happening in your life to send a Thanksgiving card every day of the year.  If you pay a tiny bit of attention you'll realize there are people all around who are helping to hold your world together.

You may feel like you're all on your own. Who else really knows all of the things you're dealing with? Who comes up with solutions when you need them? No one else seems to be involved BUT truthfully we're never alone .....


This would be an obvious place to turn the corner and talk about God in our lives. However, since we're talking about sending thanksgiving cards ... this isn't a supernatural sort of conversation. I'm talking about writing notes because I know with every fiber of my being that you have AT LEAST one person to say thank you to this November.

As I mentioned before, you could really write a thank you note every day. First take a look at the people you see most often like your family, co-workers & the girl who makes your latte. One of those people did something for you today ... really. It's possible that you're too busy noticing all of the things people do to make you have to work harder. Looking for something to be thankful for is an excellent practice. Just this past week I received an email with this little tidbit.

"Thank-You Therapy" from Prevention Magazine, November 2011          

If life's minor annoyances make you want to scream, 

try saying "thank you" a little more often. 

Experts say that expressing gratitude makes you less likely to 

lash out when you're irked. 

It works best to put your thanks on paper, says psychologist Todd Kashdan, PhD. 

For inspiration, check out John Kralik's book 

A Simple Act of Gratitude: How Learning to Say Thank You Changed My Life.

There you go ... a man with a PhD says write thank you notes : )  

We're not talking about the thank you notes that people expect like when you receive a gift or have a job interview. There are actually "rules" about how soon you should send those notes. 

I'm talking about sending a note of thanks just because ..... 

Well ...  I'd love to post a list of suggestions, but I can't help you. You'll have to write the list for yourself, because you are the only one who truly knows what you're thankful for. A note that makes an impact comes from the heart. It expresses things just the way you'd say them if you were talking directly to a person. The main difference is that the receiver can "hear" you say thank you over and over as the note is saved in a special place to be looked at again in the future. 

It's not too early to get your Thanksgiving cards in the mail. Do it before you buy the turkey or get out the good silverware.  Send a note or two to truly celebrate how thankful you are this Thanksgiving. 

Check out other cards made following this Sketch Challenge.

Sketch used for the cards
shown here ... got it from
Operation Write Home.