We have so much to be thankful for
Fast-forward to the present day as you look around. We truly have so much to be thankful for, and we should be so grateful that we’ve been given the privilege to live here. But more than ever before, we seem to be missing this very important message. How often are you spared from danger, bad things or misfortune, and all the while you may be neither aware nor appreciating it? Whether it is the food you eat without choking, the car ride you take without injury, or the decision you make to do or not do something that inadvertently turns out to be the wise choice, these things in themselves are little miracles. And since COVID, the war, and everything else, despite our deep pain – and there is plenty – we have been blessed with so much. How are we meant to show our gratitude? What is our role in all of this?
Having awareness of, and being thankful for, all that you have can change your entire outlook on life. For those making a small blessing over food, for example, it can give them a moment in which to pause, take notice, and have greater appreciation for the food they put in their mouth.
Thanking someone for a good deed or actually doing a good deed yourself for someone else’s benefit requires going out of your way – taking a detour. It may require an investment of time, often goes against an “I want it now” immediate gratification philosophy, and takes you off course if you’re feeling pressured and focusing on your individual success. Or does it?
Perhaps what you may not have seen is how a totally different approach to life may be exactly what will lead to greater fulfillment. It may just have enabled you to be in the right place at the right time. Perhaps the goal isn’t in successfully “getting there,” but instead it is the act of going there or “living life” that makes us successful. If we travel with the right set of values, every step of the journey has potential to be wonderful, and the end destination may be less important.
Focusing on someone else and not on yourself may be the very thing you are meant to be doing because you play such an integral role in helping to make our wonderful country even better. Look around and see how much people are doing for others, and you, too, will see the everyday miracles. Only when we learn to work together will we fully appreciate what the lessons are that we are meant to learn.
Here are some suggestions to help you create your own miracles:
1. Let go of things. Decide when it is time to move on and not hold a grudge.
2. Anger gets in the way of forgiveness and your ultimate happiness. Slow down. Take a step back and not forward when you get angry. Count to 10, breathe.
3. Choose to see the cup as half full instead of half empty. See each drop put in as a blessing.
4. Be happy with yourself for what you have, and don’t dwell on what you don’t have. Being rich is in the eye of the beholder. You can feel like a billionaire; all you have to do is look around.
5. Smile. If outwardly you can be happy, then your inside will begin to radiate with joy as well. Smiles are contagious, and those around you will want to be with you and experience your joy.
6. Don’t wait to appreciate things. Seize the moment. It might not come again. Change “I will be happy when...” to “I am happy now because I am grateful for...”
7. Say “Thank you” for even the smallest things. See how your world can change as a result. Notice and appreciate each other and each moment as you go through your day.
8. Appreciate all that nature has given you for free.
9. Never think that what you were given was not enough and look for more. Let go of expectations. Be grateful for everything you have.
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