November has a way of turning everyone into a gratitude expert. The lists come out, the journals get dusted off, and somewhere between the first snowfall and the second helping of stuffing, we all promise to be more thankful.
But feeling grateful and showing it are two different things. One lives quietly in your head. The other changes someone’s day.
This season, let’s focus on the second kind. Below are a few principles from the people who study and teach gratitude for a living, followed by ideas for putting them into practice across the Colorado communities we’re lucky enough to call home.
What the Experts Know
Gratitude points outward. Dr. Robert Emmons of UC Davis, widely considered the leading scientist on the subject, describes gratitude in two parts: recognizing the good in your life, then recognizing that much of that good comes from outside yourself. The second part is where showing gratitude begins. Once you see who made the good possible, thanking them is the natural next step.
Happiness follows thanks, in that order
Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast put it simply: “It is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.” Gratitude isn’t a reward for a good year. It’s how you make one.
Specific beats blanket statements
Chester Elton, co-author of Leading with Gratitude, has spent decades showing that the most meaningful thanks names exactly what someone did and why it mattered. “Thanks for everything” is pleasant. “Thanks for staying late to get the furnace running before the snow” is memorable.
Follow the chain
Author AJ Jacobs once set out to thank every person who had a hand in his morning cup of coffee, from the barista to the farmers to the people who made the lid. He ended up thanking hundreds of them. The lesson: behind every simple pleasure is a long line of people worth acknowledging.
Make it a practice
Janice Kaplan’s The Gratitude Diaries chronicles a year of deliberately living more thankfully, and the conclusion is consistent with the research: gratitude works best as a habit, not a holiday.
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Showing It, From the Resorts to the Front Range
Vail Valley: Opening day belongs to the people who make it possible before the first chair takes off for the season: Ski Patrol, groomers, lift operators. A specific thank-you on the chairlift, or a warm drink delivered to the patrol shack, goes further than you’d think. Elton would approve.
Summit County: Main Street’s Victorian storefronts have been welcoming visitors since the mining days. Follow the AJ Jacobs chain: the shopkeeper, the bartender, the bus driver who got you to the base. Each one is a link in the experience you love.
Grand County: The Fraser Valley’s trails don’t build themselves. Before the snow settles in for good, consider a donation to the local trail organizations that keep summer singletrack in shape, a thank-you you’ll feel come June.
Crested Butte: Colorado’s wildflower capital earns its title thanks to the conservation groups that protect the area’s meadows. A year-end gift to them is gratitude in its most Emmons-like form: acknowledging that the beauty you enjoy was safeguarded by someone else. And mark your calendars for a trail clean-up day when you can roll up your sleeves and beautify the trails we all enjoy.
Telluride: Few places make gratitude easier. Ride the free gondola at dusk, look across the box canyon toward Bridal Veil Falls, and the feeling arrives on its own. Then show it: write a note or text to a neighbor, a host, or the friend who first brought you here.
Boulder: The Flatirons are a daily gift to anyone looking west. Give back with a volunteer shift on the city’s open space trails or simply pack out a little more than you packed in on your next hike up Chautauqua.
Evergreen: When Evergreen Lake freezes over and the elk wander through town, it’s hard not to feel lucky. Turn that into something shared: invite the neighbors over, light the fire, and make a toast to the people who make your mountain town feel like home.
Front Range: From Denver’s skyline to the rolling hills of Castle Pines to the red rock spires beneath Pikes Peak, the foothills offer mountain views without the mountain drive. Colorado Springs’ Garden of the Gods is free to all because a family gave it to the city on that very condition, a gift still being enjoyed more than a century later. Pay it forward: support a local food bank this month, tip a little extra, and thank the people who keep these cities joyful.
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A Season Worth Sharing
The research is clear, and so is the view from almost any window in Colorado: we have plenty to be thankful for. This November, let’s do more than notice it. Name it, share it, and pass it along.
From all of us at LIV Sotheby’s International Realty:
Thank you to our clients for trusting us with their homes and their legacies, from the first showing to the final signature.
Thank you to our advisors, whose local knowledge and late-night phone calls make those moments possible.
And thank you to the communities, from the Front Range to the Western Slope, that give every one of us a place worth calling home.