Nov 18

Nov 18 The Momentum of Gratitude

A few years ago, for a stretch of time over six months when my kids were young, I'd have ten minutes of quiet time each day as I waited to pick them up from school.

Those ten minutes of waiting each day turned into ten minutes of a gratitude practice. I'd open a note on my phone, type the date, and start with the words, "I am grateful for..."

That was the practice. No fancy tools, no fancy venue, no significant undertaking. Just gratitude, full stop.

Some days the gratitude was for healthy kids, or a safe day at school. Some days the gratitude was for food on the table and a roof over our heads. Some days the gratitude was for an alert mind and meaningful work.

The point is that there was always - always - something to be thankful for, even when the most I could manage was gratitude that I had air to breathe and eyes to see.

Ironically, when those most essential fundamentals were the first "gratitude entries" of the day, momentum gathered quickly.

Gratitude makes it easy to get on a roll.

The momentum of gratitude been on my mind as we head into the Thanksgiving holiday next week here in the US: name one or two things to give thanks for, and one or two other things are not so far behind.

That's the momentum of gratitude.

It's a helpful and affirming practice, and one I'd like very much to share especially right now.

Even if the Thanksgiving holiday means absolutely nothing to you, and even if it's irrelevant to you that the wine community in the US pauses its work for a day or two in acknowledgment of the national holiday.

If a regular practice of gratitude isn't part of your daily or weekly routine, maybe take a few moments to try it out. Think of it, if you like, as a little jolt of energy, like a pilot light or a spark plug in a car.

You just need a start, and then you're on your way. You'll build momentum in no time.

I am grateful for YOU, this Thanksgiving holiday and always.

Thank you for being here and for participating in this work of wellness in our lives.

Namaste,
Cathy

What We're Reading:

Here's what has piqued our interest this week in the world of wine and mindfulness.

Daily meditation may work as well as popular drug to calm anxiety, study finds - NPR.org
A new study on anxiety shows a mindfulness program works as well as the popular anti-anxiety medication Lexapro.

Fall is the Season for Building Mindfulness and Resilience - The New York Times
If you're willing to brave the chill, autumn holds a special set of rewards.

The Questions We Don't Ask Our Families But Should - The Atlantic
We risk never knowing our own history.

The Eight Secrets to a (Fairly) Fulfilled Life - The Guardian
These are the principles that surfaced again and again, and that now [seem like] the most useful for navigating times as baffling and stress-inducing as ours.

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Cathy Huyghe

Cathy Huyghe is a dynamic media professional with a special interest in wine and the spirit of hospitality. She is also an effective, engaging public speaker on subjects ranging from wine and gastronomy to digital media and entrepreneurship.

Cathy is the co-founder and CEO of Enolytics, a big data startup providing business intelligence for the wine industry. She also currently writes for Forbes.com about the business and politics of the wine industry, and for Inc.com about entrepreneurs with a special focus on women. She is the author of the award-winning book Hungry for Wine: Seeing the World through the Lens of a Wine Glass; she was a finalist for the 2016 IWSC Wine Communicator of the Year award; and she won the 2016 Innovator of the Year award from Diaz Communications.

Cathy's writing has appeared in print and online for both general-interest and wine industry publications including the Harvard Business Review network, The Atlantic, Decanter, Food52.com (where she was the "Wine, Unfussed" columnist), DailyBeast, The Boston Globe, the Washington Post, Wine Enthusiast, GlobalPost, Grist.org, and Daily Candy. She has also been featured on the BBC, WNYC, WGBH, and Nevada Public Radio.

Cathy is the founder of 365daysofwine.com and Red White Boston, a digital media company for the wine industry. Red White Boston produced daily content, monthly tasting events, and a location-based iPhone app of video wine recommendations from their network of 30+ local partner stores. While in Boston, she also managed the wine cellar at WGBH public broadcasting station and managed wine events for donors and the public.

Cathy’s restaurant experience started when she knocked on the kitchen door at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. She also has worked for Jean-Pierre Vigato in Paris (at Natachef bistro and at his two-star restaurant, Apicius) and for Thomas Keller at Bouchon in Las Vegas. She studied at La Varenne École de Cuisine in Burgundy, France; she completed the Wine Studies program at Boston University; and she received Advanced Certification from WSET (Wine and Spirits Education Trust).

Cathy received a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard in 2004 and a second master’s degree in Journalism in 2010, also from Harvard. Before that, she received a master’s degree in comparative literature from the City University of New York in 1998 and a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania in 1995. She is also a trained mediator, and worked for two years at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School on a project in the Middle East.

In April 2008 she founded the Harvard Alumni in Wine and Food special interest group, which provides educational and networking services to the Harvard alumni and current students. She has also served as the President of the Harvard Club of Georgia, and she has begun a term of service on the Board of Directors for the Harvard Alumni Association.

Her other non-profit involvement includes the Women's Solidarity Society at the new National Center for Civil & Human Rights (Atlanta), grant reviewer for the Food Well Alliance (an Atlanta-based organization that supports the local network of 350 urban farms and community gardens), Coach at GOTR (Girls on the Run) in Atlanta, Board Member at the Greening Youth Foundation (Atlanta), Board Member at The Food Project (Boston), and Mediator at the Neighborhood Justice Center (Las Vegas).

She lives in Atlanta with her husband, their twin boys, and their Bernese Mountain dog, Coco.

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