The year just keeps getting better.
Daughter now makes family Thanksgiving feast.
Not quite what I was planning.
I answer to the name of mom.
These are six-word stories.
“The constraint of the six-word form helps us get to the essence of what matters most,” says magazine editor Larry Smith.
For Thanksgiving, he invites his readers to do a version of the exercise. Initially more than a decade ago, he suggested to his relatives seated at the Thanksgiving dinner table: each tell a story about themselves — in only six words. It spawned a website, books, and many challenges.
This Thanksgiving, let’s play with it. In Smith’s words: In this year of politics and so much else, tell us what makes you grateful, in just six words. I can’t think of a time when expressing gratitude has been more important.
I agree. When focusing on what we are grateful for this year, let’s play with it and hone it down to its essence. We can come up with lots of variations.
Editor Smith advises you to go in any direction you want:
- You can express gratitude for life’s big things (‘Cancer-free after five long years’)
- seasonal joys (‘Daughter now makes family Thanksgiving feast’)
- current events (‘May not mean what we think.”)
- a longer life journey (‘We all lived through son’s teens’)
There is a back story on this. Legend has it that novelist Ernest Hemingway was asked to write a full story in just six words. He wrote: For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.
You don’t have to be a Hemingway; scads of people have taken up this challenge and produced memorable six-word stories.
My first shot at it produced: Peaceful Mind, Companions, Creativity: Plenty, Fulfillment!
What is your six-word story of gratitude for this year? Please don’t be shy and let me know. drcheryl@drcherylkasdorf.com
Expressing gratitude spreads the joy!
