I love Thanksgiving – and not just because it is an excuse to eat sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. It is a day when we focus on something that is perhaps the best UPlifter in the world: gratitude. We all have so much to be grateful for: simple things like running water and electricity; things we often take for granted like our ability to breath, think, move and feel; inspirational things like music, literature and nature; and priceless things like a caring best friend and a loving family.

This Thanksgiving, I encourage you to be grateful for EVERYTHING in your life, including the things that you may not exactly be thrilled about. Can you be grateful for all your challenges and see them as learning opportunities? Can you be thankful for disappointments as they have motivated you to come into greater appreciation for your blessings? Can you be grateful for any struggle and see it as a chance to know how strong you truly are? And can you thank yourself for anything you are wishing you did differently and remind yourself that you were doing the best you could?

The more we come into gratitude for everything in our lives, not just the things that we necessarily like and make us feel good in the moment, the more we step into acceptance. And from acceptance comes peace, clarity, and compassion. Acceptance – now there is something to be grateful for!

On this Thanksgiving, I am especially grateful to all of you who UPlift me and inspire me to share with you each week. For an extra serving of gratitude, I invite you to check out www.gratefulness.org and watch the video A Good Day.

Wishing you a happy, healthy and plentiful (both in belly and in heart) Thanksgiving.

Fondly,
Christine

“I do not think of all the misery, but of the glory that remains. Go outside into the fields, nature and the sun, go out and seek happiness in yourself and in God. Think of the beauty that again and again discharges itself within and without you and be happy.”
Anne Frank

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
John Fitzgerald Kennedy