Thankfulness: And Act of Courage

Image by @AaronAmat

This essay was originally published in my November 2025 newsletter. All content was written by me (not AI)

Thankfulness. Do you feel thankful as this year circles ahead towards the New Year?

Politically it’s been difficult year for me, and sometimes I forget all that I can be thankful for. But I’m wondering if now is the time to be consciously thankful.

In some ways giving my full attention to things I’m grateful for and thankful for feels like I’m hiding from what’s actually happening out there in the world. That I’m whitewashing or spiritually bypassing the realities of the world.

But there’s a part of me that feels like we’re being robbed of joy, of hope and wonder, and finding appreciation for the things that make this life good.

It’s important not to lose sight of the big and small things in our life that bring us joy. The things we’re grateful for. The things we want to give thanks for.

Especially now when we’re being manipulated to be angry, hurtful, and scared through social media, the news, and AI.

As humans we’re capable of so many emotions. We feel so many emotions every day. And sometimes those feelings contradict each other.  Like happiness and anger.

And as a human you have the gift of feeling all of them — sometimes all at once. You can feel angry, frustrated, and overwhelmed, and still find joy.

We can work towards social justice and equality and still be thankful for all we have.

Maybe being consciously thankful and bringing joy inwards is a radical act? It can be a ‘f*ck you’ to whoever is working towards disruption and destabilization.

I’d like to think that I can own of my privilege as a white, cis-gendered, woman and I can raise a finger in protest with joy in my heart and feel thankful for the good in the world.

I’d love to know your thoughts on this.

If you struggle to hold feelings joy in your heart, I just added this meditation, Connecting with Joy, to Insight Timer and the Circle Membership.