The Courage Behind Gratitude: A Thanksgiving Reflection
As we enter this season of Thanksgiving, I’ve been thinking about what it means to give thanks in a world that feels both beautiful and burdened. Gratitude is often framed as a something soft, but this year it it feels like an act of courage.
To give thanks in difficult times is to refuse numbness.
To give thanks is to insist on remembering what is still good.
To give thanks is to lean toward one another when division would be easier.
It requires that we keep our hearts open when worry and uncertainty ask us to close.
This year, I find myself returning to the commitments at the heart of my work, a posture I call relational courage. It feels right to share them with you now.
“A Personal Manifesto
We live in a time that asks us to harden: to pull back, to armor up. But I believe our healing lies elsewhere.
I believe in courage shaped like tenderness, in strength that listens, in boundaries that breathe, in friendships that restore our humanity, and in vulnerability offered not as a performance, but as truth.
I believe that each of us is both fragile and formidable, and that relationships flourish when we honor both.
I believe that courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to be seen when fear asks us to hide.
I believe that presence, the kind that does not rush to fix but dares to stay, builds real connection.
And I believe that the world becomes more humane only when we do.”
These commitments guide how we move through our homes, our workplaces, our friendships, and our communities. And because Thanksgiving invites us to notice our blessings, it also invites us to consider how we show up in a world that is aching and tired.
This holiday season:
May your gratitude be spacious.
May your relationships be tended with care.
May you find the courage to choose connection over distance.
And may you trust this quiet truth:
The world becomes more humane only when we do.
With gratitude for each of you, and for the community we are building together,
I wish you a Thanksgiving filled with warmth, presence, and grace.
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And that’s The Gist of It™ - Insights on Relational Courage -- the courage to know and be known by others. These practices help relationships breathe rather than tighten, deepen rather than fracture.
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Marilyn Gist, PhD