Last week, on Thanksgiving, we in the US collectively reminded ourselves to be grateful. Gratitude is powerful. It’s known to impact our health, both mental and physical. Studies show that practicing thankfulness lowers stress levels, depression, and anxiety. Focusing on what we have rather than what we lack shifts our perspective, and increases resilience to stress. A study from UC Davis found that people who regularly practice gratitude have fewer aches and pains and generally feel healthy and even sleep better.

Gratitude also plays a role in creating happy relationships. Expressing appreciation fosters a sense of mutual respect and understanding, fortifying the bond between you and your spouse/partner, friends, acquaintances, co-workers, et cetera. It goes without saying, it helps in raising happy children.

As we sat around our table on Thanksgiving day, the subject of “the first Thanksgiving” came up. Someone who had visited the village at Plymouth, Mass, where the Pilgrims’ life is reenacted, said, “It wasn’t easy. They didn’t have stoves to cook on.” The conversation veered into, “Could we survive if we were transported back to that time?” We began to itemize what we have today that would be very difficult to do without. Such a list is never-ending.

On an everyday basis, though, it’s easy to find things to appreciate. My partner Ron and I have a bedtime ritual of stating three gratitudes each. They range from the sublime: “I’m grateful I woke up this morning,” and, “I’m grateful for this beautiful autumn day,” to the ridiculous: “I’m grateful I didn’t have a flat tire while running errands today.” (If I’ve had a bad day, that’s sometimes the best I can do.)

We find that doing this does put us in a better frame of mind, and the more grateful we are, the more content we are. I recommend it.

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* Quote variously attributed.

Product Reviews

This is my first blog, but not my first attempt at putting thoughts to paper (or screen). I’ve been a writer (small w) all my life, and a Writer (capital W) for the past 30 years or more. See Meet Me. I call this blog My Meandering Mind, since that’s the way my mind works these days. It’s all over the map. So I’ll write a more-or-less weekly blog on whatever my mind has meandered to that day. Today, it’s “Product Reviews”.

I don’t know about you but I hate how stores, both online and bricks-and-mortar, are constantly asking (demanding) a review for everything you buy and every service you get. I admit I resent it. I long for the old days when you’d go to the store and buy a thing, bring it home, and use it. If you liked it you’d tell your friends and neighbors about it. If you didn’t like it, maybe you would, maybe you wouldn’t. End of story. You didn’t have to give the store and/or manufacturer a rating on it. The product sank or swam based on its sales. Advertisers have always known that word-of-mouth—friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor—is the best form of promotion.

That being said, I must backtrack a bit. When it comes to books, as always, word-of-mouth is best, so don’t forget to tell your friends about a book you loved. But reviews are of vital importance. If a book doesn’t get plenty of reviews—good or bad—on Amazon, it’ll get lost in the ga-zillion books on its website, and it won’t show up for people to see and buy. It’s not like a physical bookstore where you can look at every book on its shelves and make your decision based on genre, cover, blurbs on the back, et cetera. The irony is that nowadays what few bookstores are left only order the books that have tons of reviews on Amazon. Your review is crucial.

So please, after you’ve read a book, post a brief honest review on Amazon. It’s author will be eternally grateful. In addition, if it’s one of my books, I’d really appreciate it if you’d leave a review at the bottom of the book’s page on this website.

Thank you,

Carol