You turn on the TV or radio, or pick up a newspaper or magazine, and you would think that Thanksgiving would be an inappropriate holiday this year with economic turmoil, global unrest, and pandemic outbreaks of the swine flu.
But those, as important as they are to the news media, are just temporary side issues in a much bigger scheme of things. We’ll come through it – and be better for it.
I strive to navigate life with thoughts of Thanksgiving each and every day. And although these thoughts are indeed often shared, the fourth Thursday of November is designated as a day in America to formalize our feelings of gratitude for the wonderful life we live and for the wonderful people with whom we share this walk.
I am thankful for so much. Life really is rather splendid when you allow it to be. Although we tend to favor winning the victories, enjoying the happiness, and savoring the rewards, even the struggles, the heartaches, and the losses are worth looking at through tears of joy. If – and what a big word that is – you consider the alternative of not living, and you never fail to remain standing in that one final bastion of strong character, which is hope.
I’m thankful for my family, my friends, my customers, my suppliers, my home, my lifestyle, my community, my country. But most of all I am thankful for today. It’s a brand new chance to get up, dust myself off, and try it again. I’m so thankful that it doesn’t matter that I made mistakes or missed the target yesterday. I’ve got another chance to get it right again now. And what a wonderful opportunity that is!
I’m thankful that we all have that same exact opportunity. Young or old, rich or poor, individual or family, business or government.
But it’s not just an opportunity. It’s a personal responsibility. We can’t ever give up; we must keep on getting up.
Success guru Tony Robbins urges us to reside in a state of mind where we say to ourselves, “Here is an opportunity for me to celebrate like never before, my own power, my own ability to get myself to do whatever is necessary.”
We really can do it.
And that, dear friends, is what I am thankful for. That we are given the power denied to every other creature on the planet. That we are self-aware, that we can learn from not only our past, but from the past of others. That we have freedom of choice in our thoughts and actions to become better than we once were, to make a real difference in the lives of others, to come to the realization that it is not about us and what we gain, but truly it is about the service and the love that we give to others.
May you have a joyous Thanksgiving, and be ever thankful for the life you live. And may you be especially thankful for the today you have been given, no matter how the circumstances of yesterday may have seemed.
Be thankful that YES you can do it. And that today is the day it will happen.