Wonderbringers Newsletter with Monica Parker
View this email in your browser
Hello Wonderseekers!
Tomorrow is my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. I have about why I love this particular holiday. The focus on family and food instead of the consumerism of Christmas. The way it can be celebrated in different settings and with different people. This year, I am particularly grateful because I was able to extend my trip to the States and see more of my family, which has filled me with special memories that will last until next year.
The popular image of Thanksgiving is one of familial harmony, but the reality can be more complicated. Old tensions and slights, new people and opinions, long-held traditions of who sits where and who brings what. But despite the angst that seems to accompany family gatherings, recent surveys show that 82% of Americans still plan to gather for Thanksgiving. And most people are actually hoping to find connection at the holiday table, rather than relitigate the news cycle. That quiet decision to keep coming back to the same table, year after year, is its own kind of gratitude practice.
For many, Thanksgiving is a fragile annual truce. Not because people agree, but because — for one day — they put more weight on being in the room than on being right. This approach aligns with research on depolarization. When people come together seeking curiosity over conflict, defenses drop, and a humble harmony can be found. And in those tender moments, we can find a quiet gratitude in a loud world.
And the gratitude we find doesn’t just improve our individual mental health; it also strengthens social bonds. Being grateful makes us more willing to cooperate with others, even when they do unkind things.
So for our final gratitude newsletter this month, try giving a few moments of quiet thanks tomorrow by being truly present in that moment, releasing the past grudges and grief. Pause to use all your senses. Hear the overlapping conversations. Smell the familiar foods cooking in the kitchen. See your family gathered in one place. One day together won’t heal the world or the old wounds, but a simple shift in attention can build bonds that sustain your gratitude beyond the holiday and keep you coming back for next year’s delicate detente.
Some wonderbringers for me this week:
Book recommendation: A fictional take on last week’s mental subtraction gratitude practice: Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library, “Part Sliding Doors, part philosophical quest.” (Thanks to my stepmom for this suggestion!)
Listen: The Happiness Lab: Why being grateful makes us feel great.
Turkey Day giggle (not gobble): Thanksgiving Rider.
Join me next Wednesday, December 3rd at 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET, for an online interactive discussion about the science of goal setting. We’ll be talking about how curiosity and awe can rewire your brain, and how purpose can amplify performance and well-being. Register here!
With wonder,
Follow Me
Why am I getting this email?
Good question!
You’re getting this email because you are on HATCH Analytics’s or Monica Parker’s mailing list.
If you don’t want to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe at the bottom.
(We do hope you stick around, though.)
Copyright ©*|CURRENT_YEAR|* Monica C. Parker. All rights reserved.
Want to unsubscribe? That’s ok! We’re sad to see you go, but you’ll still be a part of our Wonderbringer community in spirit.
Mailing address:
10 Colosseum Terrace
London, UK NW1 4EB