Appropriately titled "Giving Thanks"

I know, ..............you've heard it so many times, every year around this holiday we're reminded how important it is to give thanks. Let me apologize in advance for sounding cynical but it's pretty much in our faces. You'd have to be living on another planet to not know about our holiday of Thanksgiving and how we celebrate it here in the US. By the way, Canada has their own version, but it's not celebrated at the same time of year nor to my knowledge, in the same exact way.

That fact aside, I'm going to pose this question to you,....are you only aware of your thankfulness one day a year?

I'm going to put this challenge out. See if you can be thankful for something 365 days for 2010.

Let me be clear, everyday, at least one time during the day, you should be saying "thank you" for the gift of "whatever". Why do I say whatever? Because, it's not always the obvious things we should be thankful for. Yes we're thankful for the love and good health of family and friends. We're thankful for our jobs and a roof over our heads, money in the bank (if your lucky!) food in our pantries, cars in our garages. I'm sure you can come up with a list of your own. But here's something to think about. It's easy to be thankful for the obvious good fortunes that happen to us. It's not so easy to be thankful for the lessons in life which are not usually as kind.

For example, have you ever thought about being thankful for the person that cut in front of you in the movie line? Or cut you off while driving on the freeway? How about being grateful for a rude clerk at the mall? Insanity you say!!!??? I say not. O.k. I know these aren't exactly tragedies, but when these trivial things happen to us, it reminds us that life is.......... what it is. Reality is only our perception. When the world doesn't go our way we get frustrated, angry, combative even. Guess what, it's not suppossed to always go our way. Be thankful for these reminders that we have control over how we respond to inconveniences and nasty annoyances. Be thankful that these are opportunities to strengthen our character, increase our resiliency and test our integrity. We need to have the ying and the yang to appreciate the good, the inner beauty that is us. Instead of getting annoyed when things don't go the way you planned, be grateful and look for the opportunity that exists for you. There's always something to be grateful for...it's your job to seek it out.
So challenge yourself to find the not so ordinary events to be thankful for. I promise, they will make you a better human being and a much nicer person to live with!
Happy Thanksgiving!