Living In Gratitude: So Many Reasons To Give Thanks
With Thanksgiving just a few days away, it seems like the perfect time to talk about giving thanks. After all, that is what this special day is all about: gathering with family and friends and expressing gratitude for all the blessings and abundance in our lives.
Each year brings with it a cornucopia of things, challenges, changes, adventures, opportunities, losses, renewals, laughter, sadness, lessons and stresses.
It is always easier to appreciate the obvious positives – a promotion, wedding, graduation or birth – but many of us do find ourselves lacking when it comes to being thankful for life’s hardships, losses and even day to day irritations.
Yet gratitude isn’t only about being thankful when things are good but about finding the blessings in all things.
Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation. ~Brian Tracy
When we appreciate everything that happens to us, it allows us to move forward rather than remain stuck in our place of annoyance, anger, disappointment or sadness. Gratitude allows us to find that silver lining, to see the good, to grow from adversity, learn from our mistakes and find the upside even during life’s most challenging times. Expressing gratitude has been proven to boost our health and happiness, strengthen our relationships, allow us to better handle stress and adversity, and make us more productive and creative.
This Thursday as you sit down to share your Thanksgiving feast with those closest to you, consider not only the wondrous things that the past year brought, but also those often hidden blessings that life offered. Allow your heart to open, to blossom with gratitude for all things, and watch how love, happiness, tolerance and abundance flourish.
When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in. ~Kristin Armstrong
Wonderful Activities for Thanksgiving
We invite you to download and share these two worksheets with your holidays guests. One will inspire and unleash your inner creativity while the other will bring forth your gratitudes (a great activity during dinner or half-time). Both perfect for this holiday filled with thanks. Click on the links below to print, share & enjoy! We also invite you to visit our Grateful Traditions for Thanksgiving webpage for ideas on how to fill your holiday with gratitude.
I’m Thankful for You
Thanksgiving is the appointed time
for focusing on the good in our lives.
In each of our days,
we can find small blessings,
but too often we overlook them,
choosing instead to spend our time
paying attention to problems.
We give our energy
to those who cause us trouble
instead of those who bring peace.
Starting now,
let’s be on the lookout
for the bits of pleasure in each hour,
and appreciate the people who
bring love and light to everyone
who is blessed to know them.
You are one of those people.
On Thanksgiving,
I’m thankful for you.
Happy Thanksgiving!By Joanna Fuchs
