Thankful

Thanksgiving is an American tradition that we do not celebrate in my part of the world, however, that does not mean we should not be thankful for so many blessings in our life. Thanksgiving is a holiday to remind us to give thanks and is also a good excuse for family and friends to gather and eat turkey. Being thankful in life is preached in every religion and one of the first lessons our parents teach us as children is to say “thank you” – it is one of the pillars of our foundation to becoming decent human beings. Being thankful, then,  should come continuously natural to us, not just on Thanksgiving.

If you listen to yourself being truly thankful for something, you will find it will have a chain reaction that leads to a very positive and happy feeling within yourself. Once we actually acknowledge what we are thankful and grateful for, we find ourselves feeling so much better about ourselves and more appreciative of the wonderful blessings life has to offer.

I know most of us are thankful for so much, but we rarely stop to think, acknowledge and appreciate what we are blessed with. Even if we are all busy with our everyday work, errands, or social life I am sure we can all spare a couple of minutes to reflect and appreciate the things that we are grateful for. You would be surprised at how good you feel afterwards; it is like cleansing your soul from negative attitude to positive, like transforming self-pity and self-doubt to confidence, like taking yourself from dark thoughts to shedding light on what matters, hence, going from sad to happy.

Unfortunately, we all tend to take so much for granted and we forget to be thankful and appreciative of what we have. Just look around you and try to identify things that life has enriched us with; be thankful for the trees that provide us with a variety of fruits, for the sun that gives us light and warmth, for the earth that provide us with our daily vegetables. Be thankful for being healthy, and for having a home to shelter us, and most importantly, be thankful for the unconditional love we give and receive from family, friends and strangers.

There is so much more to be thankful for, just try it and see how blessed and energized you will feel.