Gratitude Statements At Our Party Led to Deeper Conversations And A Beautiful List

A few days after Thanksgiving, we hosted an Internations party. The group gathers people with international backgrounds and creates community in 420 cities around the world. This evening, we gathered at a lovely rooftop bar in Manhattan. The “price of admission” was to take a moment to express gratitude and write it down. We made it a game –  the gratitude statement we later drew from the box, won a small prize.  The prize was not the point, the moment of reflection and gratitude, that shift in mindset, and a meaningful topic of conversation were the hope. 

We are in a fast changing, technology fueled world, with widespread humanitarian crises, in a city which cultivates a busy, over-stimulating culture… and it’s easy to become overwhelmed. But overwhelm doesn’t make us happy, and it inhibits us from taking action. When we shift focus to noticing the good things we have and are experiencing, we calm the adrenaline, cortisol, and those negative, inner voices. We realize again how lucky we are; and we can reconnect to inspiration and our own sense of power. Reading the statements is moving, grounding, energizing.  It’s a deep privilege to create a moment when people can go deeper than the busy-ness of daily life often allows. In those moments, we see the richness, vulnerability, and beauty of humanity. So, I share those statements (without names).

I’m grateful for:

• Living in a country with political and economic freedom and opportunity
• My beautiful daughter and lovely friends
• 🌻My life going up and up, more beauty every day!
• being able to keep my job through COVID – highly unusual in hospitality
• My patients – for being so loyal and convinced that I am doing a great job with them, even when I’m not
• ❄️Blue sky in New York, even the winter is very cold!
• My nieces and nephews… they light up my heart
• My family and our health and happiness
• Diversity and inclusion in NYC
• Having survived the pandemic
• Family
• My wife. She always helps me
• My friends
• 🎨 Having time to make art
• Everything I have in my life
• Having good health
• Life
• My Luna
• My friends and new opportunities
• Living in NYC, near my favorite Internations venue, the Empire Hotel
• 🌟Being here!
• To have survived covid and to still be working, and to have all my family and friends
• The wonderful friends I met through Internations
• My amazing kids
• Life and discovering purpose
• My mom 💖
• All the great friends I have
• Friends, family, and good health
• The opportunity to live and work in the US
• 🥧🍁To have celebrated Thanksgiving through the eyes of an immigrant 🦃
• Internations and all the great events and friends I’ve met
• Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 🛣️