There's a beautiful quote by Jacqueline Winspear that reminds me of the true essence of gratitude: "Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live." Grateful people are happy people and Thanksgiving isn't a holiday, it's every day.
Do such people exist? Well, you'll know you are in the presence of a grateful person if at any time or place you can ask her what she is grateful for and she can rhyme off a list of blessings. To her, "thank you" is not something you say, it's something you do: thank you is appreciating all that she has been given, good and bad, the bad often making the good so much sweeter. For him, "thank you" is the powerful action of receiving. Once he has received his gift, he takes it and carefully– very carefully– places it in a special place in his mind, along with all of his other blessings, never to be forgotten. That is the secret to his happiness. That is to the secret to her generosity. Ironically, it's because of receiving that grateful people give... and so it goes: thanks, give, thanks, give, thanks....
What do you have to be thankful for? Have you merely paid it lip service with a "thank you" or have you really received it? October is a great month to start a daily gratitude journal. There's nothing better than just before drifting off to sleep to make a list of at least five gifts you have been given on that particular day. It could be as simple as appreciating the warmth a hot cup of tea offers on a chilly autumn morning or being able to have another go at this thing called life. Whatever it is, I hope you receive it and then begin to share it. This is the Thanksgiving way.
