Or at least that's what we've made it out to be.
But really, this should be the season of gratefulness. Not that gratefulness should be for a season, or one specific reason (rhyming is maybe intentional).. But if anything, the thanksgiving/upcoming Christmas season should serve as a reminder. When the world gets overwhelming and life is flying faster then the pumpkin latte orders at Starbucks, I am thankful for the reminder to be grateful and to give thanks.
This thanksgiving, I want to give thanks for the opportunities that have come my way and the ones that never did; I want to give thanks for my Santa Barbara family but also my San Diego one; I want to give thanks for the job(s) I have; the people I have met; and as simple and maybe cliche statement, I want to give thanks for the life I am able to live.
They say that the secret to happiness is living with an abundance of gratefulness. Melody Beattie wrote the following: "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow," and I couldn't agree more.
Perception forms our reality. If we perceive we are abundantly blessed, then we live with a fullness and satisfaction. If we live believing what we have is never enough or who we are is not good enough, that becomes the reality, and becomes a life of discontentment and a life robbed of true happiness and joy.
There is something we all wish we had or wish we had more of... Money, a nicer car, a better job, a bigger house, more vacations, easier family members... the list doesn't end.. Unless we chose to focus on what we have than what we don't.
There are times when I find myself wishing for something, and it's totally fine to have wishes and desires. But what I don't do enough of, is give thanks for what I already have.
This season, I am yet again reminded of the blessings I have been given and that really anything can be a blessing if I choose to believe it is. Today I choose to believe that every single thing that has happened or didn't, everything I have or do not have, everything I have experienced or haven't yet.. All of it is a blessing.
I am so grateful. And I give thanks with a heart full of awe and wonder of all that I have been given.
Happy thanksgiving friends! What are you grateful for?
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