Saturday, November 27, 2010

GIVING THANKS

Hey everyone!  How are you this Holiday Season?  I hope you are doing FANTABULOUS!

Did you miss me?  I missed you!  It's been nearly four weeks since I've posted.  This is a very busy time of year for me but I love it!

In the Spirit of Thanks Giving, I wanted to say a little about giving thanks.  Many people gather around a table of food, on the fourth Thursday of November, and reflect on what they are thankful for.  It is my belief that we should do that everyday, all day long, and not just on Thanksgiving.

Many years ago, when I was a young Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), I responded on a 911 call to a 6 year-old pedestrian who was hit by a car while he was riding his bike to school.  This was just about the time my son, who was 8, started riding his bike to school.  For those of you who are in the Emergency or Medical field, you understand the significance of the association of a traumatic incident with similarities to your own life.

Any who...  This young boy did not survive.  Closely after this incident, I had a dream that my son fell down the stairs and died.  This particular incident and dream helped me realize how lucky I am to have my son in my life and therefore, from that time on, I rarely spoke, or speak, to him with anger, or with a tone of voice as if I don't like him, because I love him and I am grateful for him.

That particular incident and dream helped me to realize what life is all about.  Life is about happiness, joy, having fun, and being playful.

What I am trying to say is, we shouldn't wait for Thanksgiving, or a traumatic incident, to come around for us to be grateful for what we have. 

Be grateful everyday and show it by the way you think and act.  Think about all the things that you are grateful for and project gratitude towards others.

There are many people I work with who are anxious or sad and one of the biggest reasons is because they have not learned the attitude of gratitude, and that is exactly what I help them with.  The attitude of gratitude is nothing but a successful habit of focusing on what is right and good in your life, and can replace the unhealthy, and stressful habit, of focusing on what you don't have or how life could be better.

For all of you who focus on thinking life should be better than it is just think of what would happen, or how you would really feel, if you lost your ability to see, or hear, or walk, or speak.   Even yet, if you lost your home, or your spouse, or your child, or your job. 

I don't mean to be unkind, and I know of many people who have lost at least one of the things I just mentioned, but I am trying to motivate you, YES YOU!  to give thanks everyday, all day long, so that you may live with happiness, energy, and vitality, no matter what your circumstances are.

It is not our circumstances that stress us out, it is how we think about them that does.

If you can cultivate the habit of seeing all that is great in your life, meaning having the attitude of gratitude, all day, every day, you could and would be the happiest person no matter what your circumstances are.

And that's all I gotta say bout that!

I am grateful for you...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Elizabeth

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