Quotes of Thanksgiving & Noticing Autumn’s Wisdom

I live in a place where autumn flashes by quickly. I guess it explains why folks here revere it and why we feel compelled to capture moments in nature. The landscape changes daily now. And the weather! Flip flops weather earlier this week, and snow on my drive to Chicago today. Quotes of Thanksgiving & Noticing Autumn’s Wisdom invites us to open in fresh ways to the colors, changes, and golden comforts as we inch closer to winter.

Quotes of Thanksgiving & Noticing Autumn’s Wisdom

I’m sharing a few peeks around our house in fall where colorful leaves don’t stick around nearly long enough!

The Science of Gratitude

Brené Brown’s research reveals a significant relationship between joy and gratitude. The direction of the causality of joy surprised her, and this is so worth a watch!

I never did get around to decorating the front porch for fall with pumpkins or cornstalks or even mums, but I’m looking forward to autumns in the future to have fun with it when the interiors are complete.

From a living room window…

It was from this window in the wee hours that I studied the blood moon eclipse earlier in the week. It was magic. Because I get up so early naturally now, I didn’t have to miss it. How grateful I am that aging comes with benefits like this since I was never able to rise as easily as I do now.

It felt so good to bring in a maple branch or two and finally feel as though I were decorating for the season after months of dust and reno.

Renovation and delay of gratification will shape your perspective and gratitude. There is joy and so much thankfulness that comes when spaces get new life, when after months of planning and plugging away after work, a cozy feeling emerges.

Is it possible to go a little overboard with a repetitive tree theme at home?

I guess I’ll keep you posted…it’s just that I don’t know that I’ll ever get enough of them. They have so much to teach!

I love these vintage brass deer we found at the antique mall on our visit to Franklin. They may get a little ribbon or wreath for the holidays.

Before there was a golden blanket of leaves on the front lawn, our tree lit up the cool grey guest bedroom we recently began tweaking.

Can you believe these are unedited photos?

It’s completely bare now, but what joy to watch it change.

The windows in the family room are visible from the breakfast room, and the colors reflected in them were glorious.

Here’s a look at the back of our house from the wooded area beyond the lawn:

Midwest autumns feel like such a privilege!

I have said I just can’t live with orange, but I CAN (this was at our prior home).

Simple Gratitude Practice

I’m not great at keeping a gratitude journal. Here’s a very simple gratitude practice to adopt at each day’s end.

Simply write down one thing…the best part of the day…upon a calendar near the bed.

Just think what a blessing it will be at the end of the year to reflect back upon 365 glorious gifts!

It may be a small thing, but I am grateful that after having dinner out with my sister tonight, I was able to tolerate the food and drive home without issue.

I’m grateful that at this very moment, as I type this, I can wiggle my toes without fear or wincing from the Raynaud’s. There was a serious weather shift, and that often affects my condition.

I’m thankful that even though our primary bathroom is not yet usable, there’s another down the hall that stays toasty warm and just perfect for long baths.

I’m grateful for hands that create art (and they created some in the quiet of the early morning today.)

My heart is grateful for the glow of candlelight as the days grow shorter.

(Psst. This white milk glass candle below is often burning at our house….it’s right here and hard to beat…)

Faded hydrangea blooms are another favorite of mine in fall…do I really have to hide them away when December comes?

I just love how those little petals cling even as oak and maple leaves fly free.

I’m so thankful there is a thing as lovely as frost forming on pumpkins…

and how the scent of a campfire or burning leaves can usher in a flood of autumn childhood memories.

No matter what the season looks like this year, I hope we will be able to see that what we have is enough.

We Can Be Still and Know

If we are challenged to find blessing or eyes to see the good, I hope we can forgive ourselves.

I hope we can let our weary minds fall into our hearts.

I hope we can remember to find moments of stillness, moments to kneel for embodied prayer.

The day will come when I am no longer physically able to kneel near the earth. Let me not take even this simple posture for granted.

And let me remember I am but one prayer, one moment, one simple breath from seeking the grace I need for every task, for every care, for every struggle.

The Art of Gratitude

Surely the art of gratitude takes a lifetime of practice.

Now that half of mine has been spent, I can see all the ways I was blind to gifts that did not at all feel like gifts when they were given. As a result, I could not access gratitude for them.

“Gratitude is good for you. Taking a moment to give thanks can improve your digestion, mental health, and even your emotional health. It doesn’t just make things “feel” better, it actually makes them get better.” -Ocean Robbins

But now!

Now?

Well, if I am honest, I am still mostly blind to the gifts; always judging and weighing and sorting the joy from the sorrow.

Which is why I must daily surrender and seek the grace to see beyond my own deeply rooted biases, privileges, entitlements and blind-spots. To see beyond the finite.

Beyond the glare of my wounds and trauma.

Even now, I write these words from a place of deep forgetfulness. Relearning is often necessary.

Thank you for reading. I’m aware of the millions of websites and blogs in existence.

It’s a blessing and source of great joy to me that you choose to visit this one.

I independently selected products in this post—if you buy from one of my links, I may earn a commission.

Peace to you right where you are.

-michele

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