Take Notice November

November is known as a gratitude month, where mindsets are invited to pause and to reflect on what has been given as loved ones gather and voice thanksgivings to one another. Gratitude is present all year round but there is a collective worldly pause where this month gives a special kind of room to acknowledge with specifics on what to be thankful for.

A word that has been deeply present in my spirit in more ways than I can articulate is that of “notice” and it has taken my voiced places of gratitude to whole new deeper areas of awareness and understanding.

As you enter this November, I wanted to give you four areas to take notice that I experienced as a well of life in my spirit this October that prepares you for a strengthening place of voiced thanksgivings.

Take Notice: Remembrance 

A rhythm that has been part of our 17 years together in marriage and as a family has been consistently taking time to build stones that communicate and testify to the places that we have traveled together. We have found a richness in receiving gratitude from the process of the journey and that when we can pause, reflect, and name those places that our feet and hearts have invested in then we can see things from a deeper place of awareness.

The how to of this experience is reflective on the individual but I can share an example with you so that you can tailor it to your story. This can be done individually or as a family/ group but set your atmosphere. We always tend to go near water and find stones that represent what we are voicing, then stack them on one another, writing out what they represent in journal and take a photo of it to remember at a different point. We find strength, awareness, and grace in seeing this visual as it serves as a marker that things have been built in us from each season that we travel and it is worthy of being named what we experience, be it in the heavy or lighter seasons.

Take Notice: Authenticity 

It’s vital in your mental well-being that you have a safe place at a table with others, so part of this rhythm of noticing is taking inventory on who your trusted circle of community is where you can authentically and unapologetically be you resides. Create margin to gather with those individuals in a way that encourages both of your spirits.

This looks different, depending on what is being faced in a season, but this can look like gathering in one-on-one investment times, as a small group of trusted loved ones, sending letters – it’s a movement of understanding that not all information you are traveling is to be shared outwardly with every individual in the same kind of ways and that the rawness of your process will hold its sharpening with those you can share the hard with in grace and in love. In that understanding of your trusted people, you give them the accountability to speak with wisdom into your life as you share details of your experiences with them.

Take Notice: Chase the Light 

Depending on warm, cloudy, or winter months, there are always opportunities to chase the light and notice where it touches nature and gives you a source of Vitamin D embrace that knows how to whisper strength to your soul. I am a warm weather, sunshine-loving kind of gal and days where the sun bursting forth are my favorite kinds, but I have found that the more I embrace even the cloudy, gloomy days, I find light bursting through even those unseen moments. Like steam rising forth a shared cup of coffee with a trusted friend and noticing light coming through the window to shed warmth on our table side time together. Or the warmth and light that illuminates from a fire place gathering the room with closeness and care. The light bursting forth through trees lined with shouts of welcome as people explore within them.

Take Notice: Shared Experience 

It is a powerful tool to create margin for celebration and reflection time that pauses from the movement of everyday and gives room to acknowledge what is being lived in the moments.

The how to on this will be tailored for you, but we have done this in one on one investment times with our kids – like baking something special together (like these homemade doughnuts) and while we are baking affirming things that we have noticed in them in this season. The movement of creating something together while talking through areas of acknowledgement has a beautiful thing to share in with others on the other side of it. This was also done over a celebration breakfast together where we had some specific things we wanted to affirm in all of our kids, so we chose a place we had never been because that was an area of character building we wanted to voice for them we had recognized in them and we chose a place that gave a token gift in the time so they had something to remember later the things shared around the table with them (the ducks).

Being able to then go around the table and let others affirm what they noticed as well as “What is one thing you noticed about them this season?” “I noticed *this* in you…”

Then giving the prompting question, so that we can celebrate with you: What is one thing you are proud about in yourself in this season?

May this be a season where you cultivate the rhythms of noticing what is being built in yourself as you also see the areas around you where growth and connection is happening every day.