Thanksgiving and Giving Thanks

Meet Pam Cole, Senior Manager of the Recreation and Fitness Center and this week's contributor to the Inspirations blog. Pam has been at SAS Institute for over 20 years and has worked in fitness for over 25 years. An avid Tarheel fan, Pam graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a double major in Communications and Radio Television Motion Pictures. She began teaching group exercise classes while in Chapel Hill and still loves it. In addition to teaching group exercise, she is a certified personal trainer with the National Sports Performance Association as a Pre and Post-Rehab Exercise Specialist. In her spare time, she likes to garden, do rehab projects on her home and cook.

....and now a word from Pam on Thanksgiving and Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. This time of year causes me once again to ponder how we arrived at our modern traditions of rushing to get the house cleaned, giant balloons at the Macy’s Day parade, hours of cooking to prepare the turkey, stuffing and all the fixings, followed by football and perhaps a few well-deserved hours of lying on the couch or recliner. And did I mention the shopping?! Don’t get me wrong – I look forward to it every year.

We generally think of the thanksgiving holiday having its roots back in the time of the Pilgrims and a celebration for a good harvest. While that is widely accepted in the US, the holiday goes back further than that. In English tradition, Puritans wanted to get away from church holidays and replaced them with Days of Fasting or Days of Thanksgiving. Days of Fasting would represent a disaster such as a plague or flood, whereas a Day of Thanksgiving might be celebrated following a victory. In Canada, the tradition might be traced back to an explorer, Martin Forbisher, who celebrated a successful journey from England.

There are many other Thanksgiving celebrations held throughout the world, with a wide variety of origins as well. All seem to go back to a celebration or observation of giving thanks for some event.

Research has proven that giving thanks or gratitude can increase our happiness and well-being. (See more in the inspirations blog on Happiness and Gratitude.) One of the quickest ways to improve our emotional energy is to simply list the things we are grateful for. Go ahead and try it now. Take one minute to write or name those things or people you are thankful for. Was it easy? Could you have listed more? Do you feel any differently?

Here are just a few of the things I am thankful for this holidays season and throughout the year.

* Family and loved ones. I know it’s cliché, but I am more grateful for these people in my life than words can express.

* A great place to work, awesome co-workers and the wonderful participants at the RFC!

* All our modern conveniences, technology, medicine and the like.

So what are you thankful for? And how do you spend your Thanksgiving?