“We are grateful!” (Georgian Style)
This past summer, I spent 3 weeks in the Republic of Georgia with a travel group of about a dozen people. It was an absolutely incredible experience.
Georgia has the oldest evidence of wine-making, so we enjoyed it made the ancient way, in a clay qvevri, buried underground. We saw the oldest hominid skull outside of Africa at the Bolnisi museum. We visited the Prometheus cave (an ancient geological wonder), Vardzia (a 12th century cave city carved into a cliff face), and Uplistsikhe (a rock-hewn town dating back to the early Iron Age). We saw ancient and modern spiritual centers of numerous faiths, including churches, synagogues, and mosques. Georgia is an incredible country, a convergence of many different traditions and cultures due to its strategic location on the ancient Silk Road, in between the Caucus Mountains, connecting Asia with Europe.
During our travels, we quickly developed a tradition at meals that I loved. After the food had arrived, before we began eating, we held up our plates and simply said, in unison, “We are grateful.”
Sometimes we held up empty plates at a Georgian Supra, before we helped ourself to our traditional regional dishes, served family style. Other times, it was a quick pre-made meal picked up at a truck stop or grocery store en route to an excursion, or a plate filled at a hotel breakfast buffet. Sometimes, it was with a glass of wine or a delightful treat.
Serving the purpose of a traditional pre-meal prayer or grace, it was a way that we could honor the varied traditions of our diverse group, acknowledging our gratitude for the food we were about to eat, the amazing travel experience we were having, and the incredible friendships that were developing amongst a group of people we had only just met.
Today, in the United States, we’re celebrating Thanksgiving. Around many tables today, people will go around and share what they’re grateful for.
I encourage you to consider finding ways to utter the phrase “I am grateful” more often than just on this one particular holiday. How might you build this into your regular routine, so that you can remind yourself of all the things you’re grateful for?
How will you add this practice into your daily routine? Will you send me a message and share your plans?
November 27, 2025
About the author:
Christina Von Stroh is a leadership coach who helps her clients become wildly successful by applying iterative software development practices to achieve their dreams. Want to work with Christina to help you iterate towards the person you’re becoming?
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