Helloo0O Ladies and Gentlemen!
Welcome back to Graceland Ontario, your one stop location for linking the success lessons of Elvis Presley back to your own life. Today, we'll be talking about, what else, Thanksgiving!
This is a little strange for me - up here in Canada, Thanksgiving's always in October. But, given my larger American base, I figured I postpone this post until your one came along.
Thanksgiving is different depending on the country you celebrate it in. In Canada, apparently it could date to when Martin Frobisher landed in Hudson's Bay back in 1572. He had a meal of thanks for the survival of his crew after their long journey. Another story is the settlers Samuel de Champlain brought with him to the Canadian province of Quebec started it with a successful harvest. In the U.S., the Plymouth story is the most well known, when Pilgrims in modern-day Massachusetts had a meal of thanks, also to celebrate a good harvest. Their feast became annual and turned into Thanksgiving. Elsewhere, such as the U.K., the idea morphs into Harvest Festival, which farmers would celebrate for a good crop.
All in all, the message remains the same - be grateful.
Nothing like a basic concept to catch on. Yet, Thanksgiving so often becomes an expression for different activities - football, family, dinners. Those are great, but one must remember to be grateful for those things and not take them for granted.
"Yea, yea," you say. Your parents used to tell you to be thankful for your food cause the kids in Africa didn't have it. Then your teachers told you to be grateful for having such an incredible education system (what did they expect? That you'd suddenly like math homework). Gratitude, like many good things, probably has a pretty poor connotation in your books.
And I don't blame you. I never took the word too seriously either. It's long, it's hard to say and it never used to mean much to me.
But then something happened. I don't recall what it was - maybe when I read my first self-development book, Dr. Robert Schuller's You Can Be the Person You Want to Be. Or when, after years of heartbreak, I finally learnt how to ride a bike. But suddenly, gratitude became so important.
I recall being told that gratitude simply meant great attitude. And really, when you're grateful, everything seeems better. It's like something that was ok for years, maybe brushing your teeth, maybe Mum's pea soup, all of a sudden tastes ten times better. Heck, even holidays like Thanksgiving seem better than before. Why? God knows. Perhaps you just appreciate it more than you used to.
Now let's look at our friend Elvis Presley. He was grateful, had a great attitude, and it doesn't take much for someone who didn't even know him to tell. I mean, look at his shows. He's always thanking people, shaking their hands and kissing them. You don't do that unless you really appreciate someone, unless you're really grateful they're your fan.
And then, there's that smile. It doesn't matter when you see him in his life or where - whether it was during the Ed Sullivan show, on a movie set, after the '68 Comeback Special or three months after his divorce. He was always beaming. You see, when you're really grateful you can't contain it. It's like a force just trying to burst out of your system. And when it does, it does it in different ways. The most notable one is smiling. But, it also reflects in your body language, in what you say, in how you perform. I mean, wouldn't it be great to do a better job at work simply because you enjoy life more? It's a win win situation.
Furthermore, Elvis gave back. Wait a second, you're thinking. Isn't gratitude about being glad about receiving? Well, yes. But it also makes you want to give back, to make other people happy. To make them feel gratitude, too. Because when they're happy as well, they're gonna make you feel even happier and then you're gonna make them feel happier and then they'll make you happier and then you'll make them happier and then - I think you get the point.
But how do you get a great attitude?
My number one tip is to make a list about all the great things that happen in your life. The easiest way is to write three things that you're glad happened in your life everyday - a journal.
Another way is think about why you're glad you know somebody. It can be a parent, a teacher, a boss, a friend, a cashier at the local market. All that matters is you think, "Why do I like this person?" The answers will make you happy. And the best part? You can go out and tell that person later and make them feel better, too!
Thanks so much for reading, have a frickin' awesome Thanksgiving, enjoy the football, enjoy the family, enjoy the food and see you next week for the start of our Christmas series!
Elvis's Lessons:
Remember to be grateful, to have a great attitude. It's the name of the Thanksgiving season after all. But too many people forget this. Elvis was grateful. He loved his fans, smiled and gave back to the community. To build your gratitude muscles, you can write a short journal everyday or think of why you love somebody - and then tell them!
Have a great Thanksgiving and see you next week for the start of our Christmas series!
P.S. If you like this post, drop a comment below or email me at alexghilson@gmail.com. I'd love to meet you and discuss this post over this Thanksgiving weekend.
P.P.S. If you're interested seeing Elvis singing a song of gratitude, here he is with a version of "How Great Thou Art".
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