On Thanks and Gratitude

[RMG]

I shared these words with my list subscribers and on my blog this week. I thought I would also share them here with my SSWT friends. Happy Thanksgiving!

Reflect on your present blessings, on which every man has many, not on your past misfortunes, on which all men have some.
-Charles Dickens

Here in the U.S., we’ll celebrate Thanksgiving this week. For many, Thanksgiving means a cornucopia of food served in feast-like fashion. For others, it means a day off from work and football on the tube. For others, still, it means another holiday in which the pathologies of various family members come together once more to clash!

I prefer to think of Thanksgiving as a reminder that I have so much for which I can be thankful. It’s a time for me to brush up on my attitude of gratitude.

Gratitude, of course, is not unique to any one culture, theology, philosophy or people. In fact, a survey of the world’s major religions, shows that gratitude as a human disposition is highly prized characteristic in Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu thought.

I personally have come to learn that gratitude is an interesting little character. I don’t remember when I first came to treat it with the reverence and awe for which I believe it deserves, but I do know, that a funny thing happens to me when I enter an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving!

Dr. Wayne Dyer has described the essence of attitude as “understanding that every moment of your life is something to be grateful for.” There was a time when I would read or hear that sentence and my interpretation of it was that in every moment of my life there exists something for which I should be grateful. But, I want to point you back to what Dr. Dyer really said: “every moment of your life is something to be grateful for”. Do you see the difference?

Although we can, we need not look outside ourselves for material things to feel blessed. Although we can, we need not look to the way someone else treats us or feels about us in order to feel blessed. Simply being who we simply are is a blessing. Simply being, is a blessing. Are you thankful?

Commit yourself today to begin counting your blessings, to begin giving thanks, to begin to have an attitude of gratitude. Begin today to recognize that there are no blessings too small to be counted. When you lay in bed at night, sleepless from worry, rather than count sheep, count your blessings and experience an instant state shift.

As a little old (and very wise) lady at church once reminded me: When thanks goes up, blessings pour down!

Happy Thanksgiving!