Thankfulness

November is the month in which we observe and celebrate Thanksgiving. Several years ago, I hit a bump in my life path and found that I felt sad a lot. During that time, I remembered seeing an episode of the Oprah Winfrey show in which she mentioned the book title "Simple Abundance" by Sarah Ban Breathnach. Sarah's book contained some encouragement for thanksgiving - not the holiday, but the simple act of giving thanks. Readers are instructed to find five things at the end of every day for which they are thankful. It seemed like such and easy thing to do, but in that deep sadness of my divorce, there were days it was all I could do to think of one. It was usually my thankfulness for my five children.

To this day, I sincerely believe that this little exercise really helped me get through that darkness and sadness because I started feeling thankful for a little piece of gum. To me, that thankfulness was equal to happiness. Even if it lasted for twenty minutes, I definite did feel happy. I started to really take note of everything in my life I did have. I wasn't focusing anymore on what I didn't have. I know this may seem silly, but I even began to realize I was thankful for sunshine and so on and so on.

My encouragement to you is that if you're ever feeling down, sit down and make a list of things you have for which you are thankful. If five is too much, then start with one thing. IT WORKS! Saying thank you isn't just good manners! It's beneficial THERAPY!

Today, my list of five things is:

• my wonderful children. Each is so different and so wonderful. They make me feel so proud every day.
• My husband. He is so supportive of all my endeavors.
• Hot coffee. It's the stuff that helps get me really going in the morning.
• creativity. I have to have this in my live EVERY day. HAVE TO.
• my computer. It works and it is amazing.

...and a bonus item: thank YOU for reading my blog.