Turkey talk

Telluride Daily Planet, e-edition, Friday, November 21, 2025

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. — Melody Beattie

Every time I see a rafter of turkeys — another word for flock, I have learned — a little gold wildlife-sighting star lands on my shoulder like a snowflake. I feel happy and grounded in the present moment. I feel fortunate, even if it’s a mere micro-firework in the complicated workings of the medial prefrontal cortex, ventral striatum and anterior cingulate cortex where such occurrences ping.

This, of course, happens with a multitude of other sightings, too, as it likely does for you — hawks, sunlight on rocks, steaming herds of elk, trees lashing in the wind, snow sparkles, shooting stars. The list could literally be infinite. But turkeys are relevant right now, so they can serve as our talismans of gratitude. 

To me, one sighting is actually three and involves feeling good in the 1.) sighting-a-turkey moment; but also 2.) in acknowledging that moment of feeling good; and then maybe even 3.) coming back to that good feeling memory later, for the added boost. This beautifully layered package called gratitude can be given to oneself whenever one has the presence of mind to open it. And, according to pretty much everyone everywhere, being grateful is just a better way to live.

Yes, it’s gratitude season, folks. And as we celebrate a day meant for gathering and giving thanks, we do it even amidst whatever turmoil or challenge each of us faces, whether it is feeling lonely or less than, lost, left out, overwhelmed or overcome with grief. We do it in spite and in light of all that is going on in our universe, one latticed in dark and light. 

Though so-called gratitude practices have become eye rollers or worse for many, it’s incontestable now, in terms of the science, that working to feel better for what we do have is good for our overall health, not to mention the health of those around us. Maybe you’ve seen those posts of kids finally receiving the dogs they asked for and dreamed of? I’m convinced that even observing gratefulness changes brain chemistry — as well as the level of the Kleenex box — instantly.

Though gratitude is rooted in ancient civilizations and indigenous cultures as a component of spiritual traditions, it wasn’t until the 20th and 21st centuries that scientists began studying it as a measurable component of wellbeing via neurology, physiology and psychology. 

In a nutshell, gratitude can boost dopamine and serotonin to enhance mood; it can reduce stress and cortisol levels; it can increase oxytocin, a hormone that promotes feelings of trust and connection. Potential gratitude-induced shifts include reduction in anxiety and depression, increased resilience, better sleep and rewired emotional patterning, even with short, consistent practices. It is a longevity practice.

It may well be that this Thanksgiving Day — or tomorrow or any day at all — is a time for all of us to refresh practices that may have become stale and to renew the way we perceive what we have. Maybe the journal entries, lists or going around the table to say what we are thankful for (a dreaded moment for many) need to go away for a while. 

If this is the case, here are a few ideas circulating in the quantum “thankscape” out there, some I have probably mentioned before. Micro-gratitude (a five-second moment) linked to a habit like hand washing, brushing teeth, climbing stairs or any pause in the day. A nighttime gratitude inventory of a couple things unique to that day. First-last practice to righteously bookend a day with one thing you are grateful for. Saying thank you to someone (or yourself) and really — I mean really — meaning it. 

A personal favorite of mine comes from a Tony Robbins meditation (I kid you not) and is simply recalling three things from the past that we are grateful for, one at a time, and reaching into the moment deeply to feel it all over again, reigniting the chemistry that made us feel good in the first place, being grateful for that again. The brain doesn’t know the difference. You can give yourself themes like blue things or time periods or nature and simply wait for lost moments to bubble to surface. 

A daily or regular practice of gratitude is free, simple, takes very little time, has the testimonials of millions and the science to back it up. It can start with a turkey trotting by or any other single delicious detail from this priceless life. For extra credit, you achievers can include being grateful for your struggle of the day, as well.