“Talking about our problems is our greatest addiction. Break the habit. Talk about your joys.” Rita Schiano

“You have a choice every single day. Choose to feel blessed. Choose to feel grateful. Choose to be excited. Choose to be thankful. Choose to be happy.”  Amber Housley

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have; you’ll never have enough.” Ophah Winfrey

So much of the year it is easy to grouse and complain.  So and so did such and such to me. I don’t have this and I want it.  Oh, gosh, its…..so cold, too rainy, and we’ve have grey clouds and snow forever! Or worse we ignore the multitude of gifts we have over missing a few things others have. No matter our circumstances, we will only know joy through gratitude.

Josh Groban captures it this way: Thankful

Thanksgiving is the one day we seem to try to focus on all the good we have, especially the blessings of a warm, loving family. The former executive of the agency in Syracuse where I worked, Bobbie Schofield, always used to tell us not to complain about the lost grant, the less than kind program reviewer. We could get someone worse and worse times could happen. My mother used to say, “You’ll never make yourself happier by complaining. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude and life will be good.”  Wise women, I have been blessed with wise women in my life.

It even turns out that gratitude is healthy for us;  let yourself feel blessed and your blood pressure goes down, your immune system improves.  Check out this link:   gratitude for health  If you just smile, your attitude will improve. Think of something you are grateful for and your body chemistry changes and improves.

So today this will be my Thanksgiving grace:

Thank you, Lord, for my family and that we can share this meal together. Some families in this world are fleeing war and don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

Thank you, Lord, for friends who are loyal, who care for me. Some people have to live looking over their shoulder for enemies.

Thank you, Lord, for our country, bless it and keep us safe and strong. Some places in the world do not know freedom or safety.

Thank you, Lord, for all who serve us, our soldiers, police, firefighters, rescue workers, social workers, ministers. Some people live without help in our world.

Thank you, Lord, for our home. Too many in the world are homeless.

And thank you, Lord, for Thanksgiving, for a reminder that we are blessed. Thank you for your many gifts to us. We ask your continued blessings and we ask you to bless all those in the world who need you so desperately. Amen

I wish you all that you wish for…and I hope you feel blessed in all that you have.