Nov
Thanksgiving
Here in the USA, we celebrate Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November. The legend behind Thanksgiving is a long story about pilgrims and Indians and Plymouth Rock. As things stand today, Thanksgiving is a day for a family dinner. The focus is on being thankful for the good in our lives. Thanksgiving is a day of gratitude.
Gratitude is a sentiment that has a power all its own. I have found that when a person is grateful for what he has, he uses it to his full advantage. Gratitude recognizes the good at hand. On a practical level, appreciation of our good makes it all the more useful to us.
Some people are not grateful. They are resentful. They resent what they have lost and what “could have been.” Resentful people also resent the fact that there are things they want that they do not have. In practical terms, resentment spends focuses too much on things that are not available. Be it a focus on losses or emphasis on things not yet available, the attention goes to that which is nonexistent. After all, if they are lost, they are gone and do not exist for you. Likewise, if they are not yet attainable, they are not in your hands and do not exist for you. On one side, the focus is on a memory; on the other, a wish. Both have about as much chance of becoming real as an idle daydream.
Gratitude is a wonderful sentiment. It is also the kind of thinking that magnifies the good at hand. It urges you in the direction of opportunity. By focusing on that which is real, things get done. Goals are accomplished, even if it comes a little bit at a time. Be grateful. Keep the focus on reality. An attitude of gratitude is an investment in success and contentment.
