Remember to be Thankful!

We all have those days.Days when you do not feel much motivated at all. When your best laid plans go out the window before the day has barely begun. When something important unexpectedly goes wrong and you get that sinking feeling in your stomach. Or when you feel sorry for yourself and honestly just want to go back to bed and to sleep again.


Maybe the simplest and certainly one of the most effective ways to turn such a day, week or month around into something more positive and better is in my experience to turn your focus to gratitude. Because even if things look tough today or for the next 3 or 6 months I can always find something or several things to feel very grateful for about my life.

So I’d like to share a small list of 10 simple, fundamental things that I feel grateful for. I usually only reflect on one or a few of these things when I need to but I thought a list like this one could be helpful both for you and for me. Maybe not every item on this list works in your life, then take what works from here and create and add to put together your own list.

1. A roof over my head and a warm home.
We live in Montana, a place where the winters are cold and snowy and the fall and spring can be quite rainy. So I often return to this one. Few things feel better than to reflect upon having warm home and a roof over my head when it is cold and windy outside and I can hear the rain beating hard on my window.

2. Plenty of drinkable water.
I love water and drink plenty of it every day. It is certainly something I take for granted from time to time. But it is not a given.780 million people lack access to safe drinking water according to water.org. Try to go the rest of the day boiling any water you need to use.

3. I don’t have to go hungry.
Plus, most of things I cook and/or eat are quite tasty and healthy. And sometimes they are simply wonderful. So I have much to be grateful for when it comes to food.

4. I can enjoy the small and free pleasures of life.
A sunrise.
A relaxing walk in the woods.
A cool swim in the lake.
A crisp Autumn day in Glacier.
The sun warming my face after a dreary, gray winter.

5. Access to the internet.
When I was really young back in the 80’s and 90’s and you wanted to learn about something then you had to ask someone who may have had spotty knowledge. Or you had to visit the local library and maybe there was a book or magazine about it.
6. My friends and family.
For the love, support, kindness and all the fun that they offer and I get to offer them.

7. My health.
I do not have the indestructible body of Superman. But if I treat it well and get plenty of sleep, work out and eat healthy then it works really wonderfully well almost all the time.

8. The kindness of people I have never met before.
I truly appreciate the simple kindness in the rest of my daily life too when people let me skip ahead of them in the checkout line in the store when I only have a few items. When they stay for a few seconds and hold up the door for me too. Or let me into their lane when I drive.

9. The setbacks that have formed me and made me stronger.
The ability to learn from mistakes and not have to wallow in their consequences forever.
This has made me more appreciative than ever of the opportunity I have with what I do here.

10. I am alive.
I have, like everyone else, been in situations where an accident and being in the wrong place for just a few seconds could have meant I would not have been here anymore. I did not choose this life but I am here now. I have this moment and day and hopefully many days still to experience and live my life. It is an amazing thing.

So much to be thankful for... Happy Thanksgiving Day.