For this, I am Thankful.

 

I have started making more of an effort to stop each morning and give my day to God, asking for help in living a life of love for others (actions, words, and thoughts). I also take a second or two to give thanks for something (or many things) as I wake up each day. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I challenge you to try to do the same.

There’s something about that silent stillness before the chaos of the day that is so peaceful, so beautiful, and so necessary to start the day off right. When you spend a few minutes thinking about the good things in your life, it’s hard to look at the day with anything other than gratitude and happiness.

I admit that there are days when it’s hard to feel thankful for anything- the times when you’ve gotten little-to-no sleep, when your alarm didn’t go off and left you late for everything, when you look out the window and see a ton of snow or pouring rain (or just cloudy skies), when you ended up getting into a fight with someone you care about, when you get news you didn’t want, when a week of hard work at the gym and healthy food choices don’t give you the results you want, setbacks, death, accidents, etc etc, etc… Things happen. That’s life.

Enter: resiliency. We all face challenges, but we get to decide how to react to what is happening. You can either complain about going to the gym or be thankful that you can physically do so. You can either be upset that “healthy food is expensive,” or learn to budget and be resourceful because your health is important to you. (By the way, it’s just as affordable to eat healthy. Trust me. I know.) You can be overcome by disappointment if you don’t get a certain job or promotion that you were hoping for, or you can appreciate your current situation and look forward to better things coming your way. It’s all about your outlook. 

A funny thing happens when you look at life with gratitude instead of entitlement… the skies seem a little brighter, the challenges seem a little less daunting, and life is more of blessing and less of a curse.

Give thanks for something today. And if your day is especially challenging for some reason, write out a list of the good things in your life. Then think about those things and see how your day transforms.