Happy Thanksgiving!  Today is day 71 of the write and publish simple experiment.  What started as a no more excuses project has blossomed into the joy of; reading, researching, and writing on the most exciting stories we can find.  We started writing covers of things already registered to remove the excuse of not having anything to write about.  We wrote a commentary of what we called the “writing covers,” additional information about the authors, songwriters, and other people, places, and things surrounding the writing.  From covers to pieces on all the stories we reviewed for the newsletter, and now with under 30 days to go to make 100 published posts, our editors tell us we are writing, on average, over 300,000 words per week.

The With A Shout newsletter will continue to evolve; one of the things we like about the newsletter is our commitment to writing and publishing a newsletter every day.  The newsletter may not be perfect every day; some of our stories and story commentary might be rushed, a word may be misspelled, and a link in the newsletter might not work – but the news will be curated and delivered every day with heart and humor as the goal posts. 

The public newsletter has yet to be promoted; someone would have to stumble across it to see it.  Promotion is on the calendar at the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023.  Even though no one is reading it today, we write as if they were and with the conviction that they will.  It’s the writing and the writing schedules we want to make consistent first; after that, we will promote and finally work on engagement with the audience.

Today we are grateful for taking the chance and staying with it these past few months.  The newsletter is shorter today, with a few stories about Thanksgiving from us to you. 

Gratitude that hits you in the face is more accessible than keeping a grateful heart consistently.  If someone does something nice for you, especially unexpectedly, gratitude is easy.  In this instance, it’s a one-to-one ratio.  It’s like saying thank you, a (somewhat) automated response.  How can you continue to be grateful without the stimulus? Where does it change from reaction to consistent feeling, or does it? 

Today is Thanksgiving 2022 in the U.S., and many will gather with family. Some traditions call for going around a table with friends and family and saying what everyone is grateful for.  This is complicated for some of us; we could struggle with many things, and gratitude can be tricky.  We could wonder why some are only outwardly grateful on holiday; what about all the other days when you are grumpy?  For others, it’s the words that complicated, why not act grateful, or worse yet, are people who talk gratitude and act selfish. 

Gratitude can be tricky if you are trying to find gratitude in your heart and soul and act more thankful daily.  Some of us must be scientific about it or at least see what it looks like in action—spotting fake gratitude for someone seeking real appreciation or how to act with genuine gratitude isn’t tricky.

For a curious and thought-provoking newsletter, way to start with the downer idea on Thanksgiving!  We know, but that’s why we always ask questions around here.  More happiness to follow, but the goal is to find a way or a strategy to be more grateful, not to say we are thankful.  Some day when people read this newsletter, the comments might point us in the right direction!

A few years ago, Seth Godin released something called A Thanksgiving Reader.  We have included links to the original post from Godin and to the reader for you to download if you like.  This goes to the first article above, finding gratitude.  In the reader, several questions and ideas are presented for consideration and conversation during the holiday gathering.  The reader is an example of taking appreciation and turning it into a thing you can do instead of the item you say.

Seth Godin is a prince of action and often pushes his readers to be and do more than themselves.  In his post, he highlights two things a modern Thanksgiving would celebrate that are worth considering.

Download A Thanksgiving Reader here.

Finally, some fun, Mental Floss has an article called, 47 Fun Facts About the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Giant balloons are floating down the streets of NYC.  The Macy’s Day Parade has been a part of the Thanksgiving Holiday since 1927; if you watched it today, you watched the 95th anniversary of the Macy’s Day Parade.  Check out the article for past Youtube videos of the parade and a few interesting bits about our obsession with giant balloons and balloonatics.  Here are our top three facts:

Words | Music | Art | Unknown

Turkey Day!

Click on the Apple Music image to listen to the song on Apple Music or on the Spotify Image to listen to Spotify.

Thank you for spending a few minutes with us!

With A Shout Team