America gets to pause two times every year: Thanksgiving and Christmas. This Thanksgiving, let’s be more intentional.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.

It turns what we have into enough, and more.

It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.

It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. It turns problems into gifts, failures into successes, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events.

It can turn an existence into a real life, and disconnected situations into important and beneficial lessons. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

-Melody Beattie

Here are some interesting questions to discuss together:

What’s the value of gratitude? Why does it even matter?

Why aren’t people, especially Americans, more grateful?

What can we do to feel grateful the other 364 days of the year?

Are older people more grateful than younger people? Or is it the reverse?

We all know the value of connections, but where did the barriers come from and what can we do to topple them?

Who’s the most grateful person you know? Who’s your gratitude role model?

What is something—a conversation, advice you received, etc.—you became grateful for only well after it occurred? Why did it take you so long?

Have you lived a life that deserves gratitude from others?