Thanksgiving is a time where we have an opportunity to reflect on all the good things in our lives. We can choose to take a moment to pause and be grateful. Of course, it’s also a time of eating way more than we can imagine. Rather than reflecting on how much you’ve eaten, or what you haven’t done right, or what’s not going well, I encourage you to take this moment and reflect on the things that have gone right. Reflect on the things that you actually are thankful for.
As you remember one thing, more will come to mind. Write them down so you don’t forget.
Gratefulness has long been a topic of study and discussion. There are so many studies out there about how gratefulness helps heal our brains and our bodies. It’s always worth reminding ourselves that it is real and it is powerful. Even when it’s hard. Even when feel like you you can’t find anything, there is always something to be thankful for.
Along with gratefulness, another powerful weapon is the gift of “celebration.”
Celebrate the little things. Celebrate the big. Celebrate each step you take.
“Give me the courage to …” I’d say and pray often when facing something new. I used to deal with a lot of fear around change. Now I love it—for the most part—and probably bring more change to the table than I’m even comfortable with. Being a coach is all about helping people with change. I have to coach myself, too, through each and every change. Any good coach is first a coach of themselves. I have checklists and things I say to myself, goals, and dreams. But without change, we don’t have transformation. And without transformation, we remain where we are.
If I could shout this one concept from the rooftops, I would: baby steps are powerful. I said this once in a coaching call, but then started to reflect on it over time. We’ve all heard that if a boat or plane is off-course by just a tiny 1° it will be at an entirely new location than originally planned. That is actually a powerful metaphore for our lives if we can hear it: all it takes is one small tiny degree of change to bring you into a new place of transformation.
It’s not a life overhaul. It’s not a 180° turn leaving everything behind. It’s one small, baby step in a new direction.
They’re called baby steps for a reason. Think about any child you’ve seen take their first steps. What do they do? Do they get up and start running immediately? Absolutely not. They actually fall more than they walk. But no one sees that. Everyone celebrates the ONE step they take. Parents shout aloud: “baby took their first step today!” No one mentions the thousand falls they took to get to that first step. No one, parents or child, feels that they are not “made to walk” just because they couldn’t walk the very first time they tried.
The very fact that the child took one step was a sign that they will indeed walk. The very fact that you’ve taken a step in a direction, is a sign that you will be able to get where you want to go if you keep taking those steps.
Somehow we hit some realm of adulthood and the expectations change. We start to take one step, then two, and then another. We “fall” once and feel we must not be made to do that. We try again and somewhere after falling a few too many times, we feel it must not be meant to be. “I’m just not good at that” I often hear, or “I wasn’t wired that way.”
You weren’t good at walking when you first started. But you were wired to walk.
There are things we feel we “should have learned” or things we feel “we should be better at.” But the truth is: you’re good at everything you’ve practiced. You wouldn’t be reading this if you haven’t learned to read. That is a big accomplishment that took a lot of time to master.
If you haven’t mastered an area around your health or your life for that matter, that’s okay. Take a step back and try looking at it from a different angle.
Look at the areas you HAVE had success in. Look at the steps you have taken. Take a moment to be grateful and to celebrate those places. And take one more step.
I leave you with this video, remembering how well we all can celebrate a baby’s first steps, but forget their falls. Let us do the same with ourselves: celebrate our steps and forget our falls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBg0Qjud3jA
Happy Thanksgiving!
– Kirsten
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Kirsten Larsen is a wholeness coach, helping people experience freedom and breakthrough in body, soul, and spirit.
