Good Morning!! What a crazy thought to think that next month is the last month of the year!  Thanksgiving came and went and now we are all in preparation for the Chrstmas Holiday, as I myself put up our tree this past weekend.  Crazy how once the Thanksgiving holiday passes, it is onto the next!  this is almost a metaphor for life, people tend to always look for what’s next… Some don’t even sit to be thankful for the present moment and the now!  It is so important to Yes, have goals and always be preparing for your future accomplishments but yet, soaking in the now and being present in today! People tend to focus on what is going wrong in their lives and how looking ahead will bring them new hopes.
Now that Thanksgiving is over, we are back to our routines, back to our jobs, workout habits, eating plans, etc.  People may have taken the moment to reflect on what they are thankful for, only because of the holiday or maybe people passed that up and went straight for the food.  This year has been a tough year for so many of us.  It has been full of economic hardships that have been the catalyst for fear, strain and stress.  There are obstacles that have lead people to suffer in several areas of their lives from career to relationship and social relationships. With the struggles we face every day, it’s often a difficult concept to remember to be thankful.  It is during times like these, that we need to be most grateful, funny as that sounds.  It is so easy to go down that path of what is wrong, complain or be bitter but concentrating on all those negative things takes over your mind and blocks the positive thoughts from entering in your mind.  Your mind only has so much room, imagine if you fill the space with negativity, how much room is left for the positivity? There may be opportunities coming your way but if you are so concentrated on the negativity, you may not be allowing those opportunities to unfold!  When there is no room for possibilities and positive things, it is easy to lose motivation and quality of life because your mind is full of negativity and who likes that!!!??
Learning to change your perspective to being more grateful creates a new experience in life. It allows you to enjoy where you are and allows you to be hopeful. Hope allows you to see how you can improve and the positive things that you have to look forward to.  Thinking that things can get better creates motivation. Motivation gets you into action today towards building a brighter future. Getting into action gives you confidence that you can improve your life. Having the opportunity to improve your life is something that you can be grateful for. Developing a deep sense of gratitude will make you stronger and jump start you into an everlasting cycle to improve every aspect of your life.
If you feel that you have nothing to be grateful for, then start by just being grateful for experiencing this day. Being grateful for this day means you have an opportunity to get into action, which in turn mean you have the possibility of improving any aspect of your life. Once you start being grateful you will jump start improvement in your life.  You will discover that you actually have so much more to be grateful for. You will find yourself grateful for food, a place to live, friends, family, everything you have the opportunity to do, the air you breath, your health, the ability to change, and so much more. We all have things to be grateful for, we just live our lives overlooking them. It is so normal to go on our daily lives and forget to sit and reflect but this could be holding you back.
Make living in gratitude not a once a year tradition, but a way of life. It requires very little effort and time. If you take just a couple of minutes each morning and evening to recite a grateful list out loud to yourself, you will find your attitude changing. The world will start to look different and your relationships, mood, energy, work, and overall life will improve. Isn’t that worth a couple of minutes of your time a day?
Your attitude is your decision and something only you can change. Nothing forces you to be negative. Nothing forces you to complain. Nothing prevents you from reciting a grateful list. No one or does anything makes you behave and look at the world the way you do. The events of the world both good and bad happen every day to all of us. These events in life do not define us, we define ourselves by how we react, or respond to the events.  Be grateful for today and stay positive!!

I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle, I just wish he wouldn’t trust me so much.

-Mother Teresa