It’s almost time, my friends, for the annual ritual of stuffing ourselves silly and the mandatory reflections on gratitude. Over the years, I’ve learned that gratitude is largely (maybe entirely) a choice. It’s hard to be thankful for everything life throws our way. Some of it’s more than simply crummy. At the same time, so much of it hides a good surprise, if only we can look at it in a different way. For that gift, if not for the wrapping, we can be thankful.
It’s been awhile since I last posted. I’ve been working through a setback. I’d set out to look at it optimistically but feared it would be difficult to move beyond the decision to be optimistic to really feeling it. Within the last few days, I discovered an unexpected reason to feel optimistic. More on that next week.
Today, I’d like to wish y’all a Happy Thanksgiving. If you don’t celebrate the day, I still wish you a warm day with good food, people you love and enjoy, and much to be thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
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What are you thankful for? Have you ever found something to be thankful for in a crummy situation?
Photo Credit
Turkey-1 by Shelly Prevost, on Flickr | CC BY-NC 2.0
Sonia G Medeiros 
I think you’re right. There’s a power in choice, in recognizing that we have it, and that we make it.
It’s so easy to become accustomed, to think that something is a given, which itself is an ironic statement for taking something for granted, rather than appreciating it.
And if I may, welcome back.
Looking forward to reading more posts :-).
Agreed. It’s tempting though think we have no control over our emotions, but there’s often a lot of choice involved. If we set our will to it.
Thanks!
Thank you as well. I think there are times where we need to let go, and times we just need someone else to remind us 😊.
Absolutely. I’m naturally stubborn, so it’s hard to let go. I’m forget how freeing it can be when it’s right.
I’m glad to see a post from you again. I hope things will be going better for you in the coming weeks, but it’s great that you have found something positive and optimistic. Hope you will have a great Thanksgiving. Enjoy it, and as Adam said, looking forward to reading more posts 😀
Thanks! 😊
I’m sorry to hear about your setback, since you were so motivated to do a lot of great things just a couple of weeks ago. Glad that you are working your way towards the light!
I know it’s a cliche, and sometimes it is hard to see the bright side of things, but everything happens for a reason (that reminds me – have you ever found/ recovered your lost work?) and sometimes we have to go through pain to reroute onto a better suited path.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, too!
I am thankful for the good-crazy people in my life, as well as the bad-crazy, since they make me stronger.
That’s the setback…the loss of my work. I thought I’d be able to push through it. I ended up deciding to put the project on hold, but for a good reason. I definitely feel I’m on a better path now. 😊
Yay for my daily dose of positivism. Now I can go back to being exhausted. Heheh
LOL.
I’ve found that every circumstance is what you make of it. That doesn’t mean I always have a great attitude, but when I can look past my grumbling to find the good, it becomes a different experience. One of the best times of my life was living in a TINY apartment in NYC, living off PBJ (because that’s all we could afford) while caring for my 3 littles and barely ever seeing daylight…because it took an hour just to gear up to get me and the kids out the door. We were poor. We were frequently sick. Our upstairs neighbors were chain smokers, which means we got all kinds of second hand smoke. They ticketed us for not chipping the ice off our apartment steps when I had a 3 month old. Our neighbors were 99% Jews who shunned us. But it was one of the best times of my life. I think extremes lead to good things.
I agree! It can be so hard to see the good that can come out of a difficult situation when we’re deep in it. Once it passes, we can get a better perspective. But it’s much more helpful to see the good and potential while we’re still there.
A belated Happy Thanksgiving and a biggie upcoming Merry Christmas to ya, Sonia!
I think extremes lead to good things.