Thanksgiving

Today I went to a meeting with a very wise man, Professor Wiktor Osiatyński. He is a renowned lawyer, sociologist, activist and human rights expert. The event was quite long (three hours!) but it was so engaging and inspiring that I didn't even notice how the time had passed. One of the things Professor Osiatyński said was how wonderful Thanksgiving is as a holiday, and that we should practice being grateful for things in our lives as it may help us live better and more fulfilling lives.

He actually said that one of the assignments that he often asks his students to write is "Write five sentences about what you are grateful about in your private life, five sentences about your life in your community, five more about being grateful for things in our society, etc.". He says that they find it most difficult to write about their local communities, which is quite revealing about our way of life.

Next, everybody in the audience was invited to close their eyes and think of five things they have been grateful for within the last week. It was quite an interesting experience: even though these are quite disturbing times, and there are so many things that annoy or upset me in our public life, I had no problems finding those five things which make me feel good about my life and the world in general.

So go ahead, join the experiment: close your eyes and give yourself a minute to think of those five things that have made you feel grateful and for which you can thank whoever you believe should be thanked for your good fortune. I hope you haven't had any problem making the list. Isn't that a great feeling?