#37: Gratitude Mini-Zines
Appreciate the big and small things on a very small scale.
Instructions
Notice the things in your life that you can appreciate—big and small..
Make a mini-zine documenting six of those things.
Share that zine with others.
Also, help people experiencing food insecurity, especially now.
Non-Cheesy Gratitude
Gratitude is one of those things that feels like flossing my teeth—I know it’s good for me, and yet it seems a lot harder than it should be. But I’m working on it. One thing that has helped me is to distinguish what gratitude is not:
“Thank goodness, I don’t have it as bad as someone else” — I think that’s maybe pity?
Everything is fine, #goodvibes! — barf to this, forever.
As my pal Peggie Gillespie writes, “by cultivating gratitude, we can discover the possibility of more equilibrium as we navigate even our darkest and most fearful times.”
And especially now, given the world as it is, there may be a sense of overwhelm or sadness, and that’s okay. If gratitude seems like a heavy lift, don’t fret. First, exercises in gratitude can be challenging to connect to and take some practice to find the appropriate one for you. As one set of researchers said when talking about making exercises for kids and teens:
“Some gratitude exercises may do nothing for one person, but may make another person substantially happier because of a better ‘fit. … Second, some gratitude interventions can be viewed as boring.”
— The Journal of Positive Psychology, Vol. 4, No. 5, September 2009
Further, it appears that the ability to connect to gratitude can even be influenced by our genes and history.
“Genetics may help explain why some people find it easier to feel and express gratitude than others… besides all the other social factors like religion and culture that are also at play. Emotions are complicated things! These results do suggest, however, that genes may contribute to a person’s tendency to be more or less prone to seeing the world through grateful eyes.
Point being — find a thing that works for you. And if it stops working for you, get creative again. Speaking of creativity …
Mini-Zines!
One thing I’m really grateful for from 2020 and 2021 was the community that popped up around The Believer’s weekly comic workshops. On a cool side-note, they have continued again in 2021 with the help of the Sequential Arts Workshop on Friday nights for free on Zoom. They recently hosted one with the artist Nicole Georges that was another type of gratitude journal, and the archive is REALLY worth watching. Among her other awesome works is a series of “Anonymous Fuzzballs” or emotional support animals.
One of the most influential workshops for me was hosted by artist and educator Sarah Mirk, who made a mini-zine every day for a year, and then published a book called the Year of Zines. She also offers a lot of free resources on making zines on her website!
On November 21 I hosted a small workshop on making mini-zines. Here are the slides, including steps on how you can create your own.
Mini-zines are great because they only require a piece of letter-sized paper and something to write and doodle with, though that creative limitation opens a TON of opportunity. Give it a shot! I especially love mini-zines for gratitude journals because they’re easy to return to when you’re in the dumps.
Giving Thanks
I know, the holiday on Thursday is problematic, to be generous. However, there are many ways to show up at this time and help out people. I suggest donating to your local food bank, but find what’s workable for you. You can do it.
Music
One easy thing to be grateful for is music. One of my favorite discoveries of the past couple of years has been the weird music of Marc Rebillet. In this song, “Reach Out”, he offers some encouragement to go forward. It’s a funky one.
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