Poems of Gratitude

With Thanksgiving coming up this week, I am thinking about gratitude and how important it is to our mental and physical well-being. Julia’s post about World Gratitude Day in September referenced an article published by Harvard Medical School discussing how practicing gratitude not only improves our mood but it also can extend our lives.

Some days it’s hard to feel grateful, and this is the time of year when external factors start to make it a little harder for me. The days get short and the temps get cold, often making me feel a little grumpy. Focusing on a glimmer of gratitude can help me adjust my mindset. It doesn’t fix everything, of course, but it always makes me feel a little better.

We wish you a joyful Thanksgiving! Here are links to a few poems about gratitude to get you in the mood for the holiday.

• Gratitude by Edgar Guest: A popular journalist and author, Guest was named Michigan’s first Poet Laureate in 1952. This poem offers ideas for ways to start thinking about gratitude in the world around us.
• dem Blessings #29 by Sharon Bridgforth: I read the words in this poem as a hopeful reminder of our blessings, even for those of us who have very tough lives.
• A Poem of Gratitude by Kay Boyle: For me, this poem is a reminder of the joy we can take from our memories once we get past feelings of grief after a loss.
• Gratitude by Cornelius Eady: The unlikeliness of his profession as a poet is for Cornelius Eady reason for gratitude, as he explains in his poem.
• Heaven by Jim Johnstone: This poem explores gratitude for life following a brain surgery.