Happy Thanks-Giving

Even if you do not celebrate Thanksgiving it is easy to understand why it is one of the best holidays. Thanks-Giving! How beautiful it is even to say it.

Unfortunately, with our busy lives we do not seem to have the time to stop and be thankful for all we have. The human mind focuses more on “lack” then “abundance.” On any given moment if you stop what you are doing and really be mindful of what you are surrounded with, it is even overwhelming how much we actually have. Of course there are many people on this planet who do not even have even their basic needs met like food and shelter. I am talking about people in my communities where we are very very lucky and make up part of the top percentile in the world with a lot more than our basic needs provided (as you can also see in the image above). If you watched the people in the documentary movie Happy though; people who live in the poorest countries can sometimes be happier than all of us who have a lot more.

In order to feel more fulfilled and more grateful, one of the best things we can do is to keep a gratefulness journal or have a gratefulness prayer we can say every day. I have both and they keep me grounded. Over time if you practice writing or thinking about everything you already have in your life it starts to expand. Where ever you look, you have a lot more appreciation of all the big and the small things in your life.

I remember the day we saw this house 10 years ago. I thought how awesome it would feel to be the one living in here. I am living it and I remind myself not to take it for granted and be happy every single day. We also learn how not to take our health for granted especially past a special age when we have so many friends already going through health issues. We learn how having food on table every day is actually a blessing. We know the moments we spend with our families, our children, our loved ones are lot more precious than whatever we can ever buy.

Even the gifts we received, little things that we bought that we started not noticing anymore becomes more visible again. Spending more time being grateful almost magnifies the value of our memories and everything else we have.

So on this day as we approach Thanksgiving Holiday in US, I am thankful to have each one of you in my life and I don’t take anything big or small you did for me or taught me lightly. I am made up of all my life experiences which includes all of you.

Happy Thanksgiving!