Being thankful, being present, and Apple Pie

Thanksgiving week. Is there anything more overwhelming than opening up a new post with the intention of writing about things that you’re grateful for? The list is never-ending. I’m so fortunate and thankful for my friends, my family, my job, good health, and to be living in the city that I love. This year I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Zen mindfulness. There’s a beautiful post on mindfulness at Zen Habits:

It’s a life where we awaken from the dream state we’re most often submerged in — the state of having your mind anywhere but the present moment, locked in thoughts about what you’re going to do later, about something someone else said, about something you’re stressing about or angry about. The state of mind where we’re lost in our smartphones and social media.

Full mindfulness means we can open our minds to the beautiful, interesting, and important things around us that we miss when our minds are not awake or present.

With that in mind, this year I wanted to focus my Thanksgiving post on small, everyday parts of life that I’m thankful for. Things that – if you really take a moment to stop and notice them – are wonderful. Our days are (or can be) full of moments like this that appear to us if we can focus in on them. Even days that seem like bad days are usually full of more good moments than bad. They are simple things, but they have meaning. (Part of why About Time was my favorite movie of the year is that it beautifully demonstrated this idea.)

Here are a few of the small parts of life that I am thankful for:

• Steaming traveling mugs of peppermint tea that warm my hands while walking outdoors in winter.
• Putting on a bright, colorful scarf and mittens.
• The smell of coffee brewing that makes it seem like waking up and venturing out into the would might actually be possible.
• The feeling of crawling into bed after a full day.
• Listening to a new favorite song.
• Starting a new book.
• The soft sound the couch cushions make when I make a satisfying plop down into them right before an evening full of relaxing TV watching.
• The feeling of achievement immediately following the washing of all the dishes.
• Meeting a friendly dog on the street.
• A phone call from my little brother.
• Looking out the window on a winter morning and discovering a new snowfall.
• The dorito that has a ton of extra flavor powder on it.
• The feeling right after finishing a spin class.
• Freshly washed sheets.
• An email from my mom.
• Calling my dad to talk about how good the game was.
• Watching a Muppet movie.
• Freshly cut flowers.
• Stopping in M&M deli to get a bacon egg and cheese on toast on the way into work.
• When the tea kettle on the stove starts to whistle.
• A cool breeze coming into the window at night.

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I’ll leave you with a recipe. When people ask me what I like best of the things I bake, the answer is this apple pie. If any food deserves full, complete mindfulness, it’s pie. Pie demands your attention and your focus. There is no multi-tasking while eating pie. The moment should be calm, reflective. Pie heals the soul.

This apple pie is the best thing ever. The crust is thick and made with butter. There is a perfect crust to filling ratio. You can eat this pie warm. You can eat it cold. You can eat it with ice cream. You can cut a silver of it in the middle of the night and eat Hand Pie. It’s lovely. I’ll be making it myself this week for Thanksgiving, and again at Christmas. Here’s the recipe. It is adapted from The Modern Baker.