Thanksgivivg – When Life Gives You Lemons

A few weeks ago, I was happily munching on my carrot sticks, when I started to wonder how they got there. What was their journey from seed to my plate? This is not something that I normally do when eating, but I had been prompted by two rather different sources: one an article in the Waitrose magazine and the other, an excellent meditation book.

This unlikely duo had one thing in common: each wanted us to have a healthier and more grateful approach to our food. The Waitrose article was focusing on the effect of food waste and climate change and gave the rather chilling comment that, ‘If we stopped wasting food in UK homes for a single day, the environmental impact would be equivalent to 14,000 cars being removed from the road for an entire year.’ With approximately ‘a third of all food grown globally currently wasted,’ (Colin Butfield), we are looking at a staggering misuse of energy and resources.

The second prompt came from Gelong Thubten’s excellent A Monk’s Guide to Happiness, where he encouraged the reader to take some time to think about what they eat. Essentially, it was the basis for a gratitude meditation: gratitude not only for the food itself but for all those involved in its production.

Which is when I realised that if we combine the two, the outcome would be optimal. We would have a proper appreciation for what ends up on our table and as a consequence would be unlikely to waste it. A true win-win.

**A carrot rainbow** Image: Stephen Ausmus

The life cycle of a carrot

I’ve learned a lot about carrots while researching this post and I’d like to share with you some of what I have learned. Firstly, carrots are biennial, meaning that their whole life cycle takes two years to complete. Once their seeds are planted, they take between 80 and 120 days to grow into the root vegetable that we love and this marks the end of the first cycle. If we leave them in the ground, however, they will grow beautiful umbels. Their flowers change sex during their development, so that the pollen is released before the stigma is ready for fertilization. Once the seeds are formed, they drop to the ground – ready to make new carrots. Miraculous!

**The beautiful carrot flower** Image: Christian Fischer

Growing carrots

I confess to having shied away from growing carrots as they are notoriously awkward – requiring exactly the right soil and being prone to certain pests. Thankfully, the professionals have not been put off. But growing carrots, like all farming involves a great deal of effort. The soil must be prepared correctly as stones and obstacles will cause the carrots to split into unattractive shapes. Up to 30% of crops are often lost this way.

The soil must also be nourished with fertilizers and seedlings thinned to the correct distance to ensure optimal growth. Organic carrots will need even more intensive care, as they cannot rely on the artificial support of commercial fertilizers and pesticides.

And all the time they are growing, the soil will need to be kept clear of weeds to stop the plants from being choked or starved of nutrients and light. Anyone with their own little vegetable patch knows how much work this all is.

If all goes well, you will have a plentiful harvest. Picking by hand, as was done until fairly recently in the West and still in poorer parts of the world, is back-breaking labour.

**Harvesting carrots the old fashioned way** Image: Los Angeles Times

Farm to table

Of course, that only gets the crop out of the ground. It still needs to be washed, sorted, packaged and distributed to a store near you. This sweet little video shows you the whole story and if, like me, you love these kinds of things, you will forgive the child-centred approach.

For all you Blue Peter fans out there. You know who you are!

Mindful eating

I hope that I haven’t exhausted your patience with all this information about the journey of a carrot from seed to plate. But in a way, that is the point. When we are fully aware of all the effort put into our food, we will, I hope appreciate it. Mindful eating is all about savouring every mouthful and acknowledging and being thankful to the food itself and all those who have brought it to us.

While eating mindfully, we do not look at our phone, read or work. We honour the moment. Ideally, we will listen to our bodies and eat only what and when it is required and if possible, in the company of those we love. And if we are eating mindfully, we will also avoid foods that are bad for us. Both our physical and mental health will thank us for that. For a gentle introduction to mindful eating, you may like to read this article: https://www.mindful.org/6-ways-practice-mindful-eating/

Thanksgiving

This Thursday in the US, it is Thanksgiving. The festival was established as an act of gratitude for the native American Indians who, through teaching the early settlers about local food sources, saved them from starvation. It didn’t work out so well for the native Americans, but their kindness was exemplary.

We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in the UK, but I would hope that we can establish every meal as an opportunity for the giving of thanks. This whole post has focused on the humble carrot – a small component of any meal – but if we can briefly recall that each and every item on our plate has had a similar investment, then perhaps we can express our gratitude by wasting not a single bit.

**A warming bowl of carrot and lentil soup** **to be savoured**
Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

Giving thanks – even when it feels like there is little to be thankful for.

I know that when life is really hard, it is difficult to find a way to show gratitude. Worse still is when people tell you to be grateful. The, ‘It could be worse…’ conversation that then goes on to recount some truly tragic experience someone is going through, does not help anyone. Those stories are often sad and there is no harm in showing empathy, but they are not our stories – and even more unlikely to be the speaker’s.

Recently, after my daughter-in-law told me about her father’s truly desperate childhood, I said that I felt bad complaining about my situation. She laughed and said, very wisely, that there are always those worse off and that in no way diminishes the difficulties I have had to face. She is definitely on my gratitude list.

After my big relapse and diagnosis, I confess I struggled to find much to be thankful for: the losses seemed too great and too irredeemable. The kindness of hospital staff, friends and my husband kept me from despair and I realised that contrary to current social tendencies to moan about what we lack, I would start from the ground up and be grateful for whatever I had. My experiences with cancer have only reinforced this. There is nothing like having to come to terms with the possibility of premature death to make you happy to draw breath each morning.

So, starting from the basis of, I am alive, I worked with that. I am alive and have all my limbs – even if some are not cooperating; I am alive and have an amazing body that breathes and pumps blood and repairs itself without my even noticing. Jon Kabat-Zinn pointed out rather brilliantly that if you are alive, there is more right with you than wrong. I think that Nina Simone expresses this perfectly in her song ‘Ain’t Got No, I Got Life’. There is much that she doesn’t have, but what she does is the miraculous part. If I had an anthem for those first frightening weeks it was this. I’ll share the final verse.

I got my arms, got my hands / Got my fingers, got my legs
Got my feet, got my toes/ Got my liver/ Got my blood
I’ve got life/ I’ve got my freedom/ Ohhh/ I’ve got life!

Nina Simone, ‘Ain’t Got No, I Got Life’

A-Z of Gratitude

My husband came across this while listening to a podcast and passed it on to me. I later discovered that it is a popular activity at Thanksgiving where you go around the table and think of something to be thankful for beginning with the assigned letter. This is a game that I recommend everyone play.

For me, I like to practice this before I go to sleep (it is wonderfully soporific!) Here’s the first few letters of my A-Z:

A – the apple tree in the garden that maps the seasons
B – Baby Sofia – my granddaughter
C – choir – my happy place
D – The duvet. What is more delightful than the warm hug of a duvet on a winter night?

I continue on through the alphabet until I drop off to sleep with a little smile playing on my lips. On bad nights, I may do two or even three rounds of the alphabet thinking of different things each time. What better way to fall into oblivion than with the realisation that you have 26 (52? 84?) things to be grateful for!

In addition to being an aid to insomnia, there are significant mental health benefits too. Studies have shown that deliberately noting those things we should be grateful for will make life better. According to Psychology Today, ‘Expressing gratitude even when nothing especially gratefulness-triggering is going on can increase your well-being and help regulate stress,’ Andrea Brandt.

Pass it on

Once we get into the habit of feeling gratitude, we can expand the experience to thanking others for their contribution to our happiness. A short thank you note sincerely written, a card or an email, can bring a disproportionate amount of delight to the recipient. Whilst it is true that misery, like a cold, is contagious, so too is the reverse. Those who genuinely feel grateful for whatever blessings they have tend to bring the same attitude to others. A smile evokes a smile; joy sparks joy.

And don’t be afraid to fake it. Bizarrely, smiling from pleasure or smiling because you force your mouth into that position is interpreted the same way by the brain and provides the same positive outcomes. So break out that grin!

Fake it till you make it! Photo by Lesly Juarez on Unsplash

There is no doubt that Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday, but it seems foolish to give thanks only once a year. By making this a daily habit, you will make your world a place for which you have a deep and abiding sense of gratitude. And as a bonus, you will help others feel the same way too.

Tag: Thanksgivivg

Meditations on a Carrot