Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough. ~ Oprah Winfrey
I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose. ~ Woody Allen
Yes, I have done it. I succumbed to the pressure around me to write about Thanksgiving day and what I have to be thankful for. I have a lot. I think many of us have a lot to be thankful for.
As I have been watching the international news over the past few months, I am quite saddened…. from Syria to the DRC we see so much instability and unrest. Life is put into perspective very quickly for me. Life is harder for many people – be it a small child in an orphanage in Africa or Russia or an adult struggling to find where they belong in the midst of civil unrest in the country of their birth.
I have learned that life is really about perspective and that perspective plays such a strong role in happiness. The half-empty versus the half-full glass holders really do live very different lives. I have also learned that, at times, we need to work to find the things that we are thankful for; yet, if we put in a little effort, it is not hard. I can give you a few examples of the very small things in life I am thankful for – they are only small until they disappear, and then they are greatly missed.
- Loving family
- Warm showers
- Laughing children
- Purring cats
- Working heaters in the winter and A/C in the summer
- Internet connections
- Hugs
- Smiles
- Good food – especially ice cream! (Yes, in my book ice cream is indeed a food!)
- Skype (I get to see and talk to my family from anywhere in the world – even from visits to rural Africa!)
- Chocolate
- Coffee
- Good books
- Best friends
I am sure that my readers can add many more things to this list, I could as well. I find that in moments when my attitude is not great, if I allow myself to be thankful for the small things everything shifts and I am able to see a change in my attitude.
Today, 91 days ’til 40, I am so thankful for the little things.
~400daystil40
Fortuitous Forty!!! 
mountainmae
November 22, 2012 at 00:15
I am thankful someone else besides me sees ice cream as a food! I love the Woody Allen quote and it is so true.
400daystil40
November 22, 2012 at 23:15
hehehe – yes, it is its own major food group!
Sid Dunnebacke
November 22, 2012 at 03:31
Here’s wishing you a relaxing holiday, with some of those of family, children, cats, and friends around you!
400daystil40
November 22, 2012 at 23:15
Thank you – you too!!! )
walkwiththerabbi
November 22, 2012 at 03:56
In addition to a liyany of things and people I;m grateful for, I’m also grateful for WordPress. It provided the medium to enable a friendship, with a classy, sensitive and quality friend – you!
400daystil40
November 22, 2012 at 23:14
Yes, me too!!!!!
buckwheatsrisk
November 22, 2012 at 04:11
me too 🙂 Happy American Thanksgiving.
400daystil40
November 22, 2012 at 23:14
Thanks!!!!! 🙂
sakuraandme
November 22, 2012 at 05:46
Happy Thanksgiving to all your American readers!! ………….Paula x
400daystil40
November 22, 2012 at 23:14
Thank you!!!
The Quiet Borderline (back in hospital)
November 22, 2012 at 06:37
I am in a psychiatric hospital in Jerusalem and have been broken hearted the last several days because of the situation here. Then the bus bombing. I’m trying to see positives like all of the thousands of rockets that have been fired from Gaza and injured nobody. I think that is a miracle.
400daystil40
November 22, 2012 at 23:14
Yes, it is a miracle… though a few, sadly, were injured…..
Melia Alexander
November 22, 2012 at 08:28
This is sooo true! Sometimes, for me, it’s just a toe dip, but pretty soon, the entire foot’s swishing around and before I know it, the attitude shifts.
400daystil40
November 22, 2012 at 23:13
Yes!!!
Marian Hearne
November 22, 2012 at 10:49
Funny you should write a post on Being Thankful. Yesterday afternoon I stepped back from all the chaos and spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen whipping up some mince pies, gf bread and mulled wine. I only let music (from my twenties) break the silence. It was like having a week off. I’m fit for anything! But as I see the rain drenched footpath outside I just want to snuggle back up into bed! Great post and a good reminder to be thankful as it puts us into good humour. Even if a person only feels like being thankful for the cup of tea in the hand it’s a start.
400daystil40
November 22, 2012 at 22:53
Thank you so much, I agree with you completely!
speltforchoiceblog
November 22, 2012 at 10:52
Reblogged this on Spelt for Choice: Marian's Dairy Free & Egg Free Kitchen and commented:
A great post from ‘400 Days til 40” on Being Thankful. Timely as yesterday afternoon I stepped back from all the chaos and spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen whipping up some mince pies, gf bread and mulled wine. I only let music (from my twenties) break the silence. It was like having a week off. I’m fit for anything! But as I see the rain drenched footpath outside I just want to snuggle back up into bed! Great pos. A good reminder to be thankful as it puts us into good humour. Even if it’s you only feel like being thankful for the cup of tea in your hand right now well it’s a start.
Another Thousand Words
November 23, 2012 at 00:06
As the old song goes, 400…”Little things mean a lot.”
I so hope many all across the world take a moment, today and every day, to be thankful for at least one small thing in their lives. It seems some days, the entire population has gone ‘loopy’, and that one bit of stopping to be thankful becomes the only time of sanity for that day.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and the entire family, 400!
400daystil40
November 23, 2012 at 23:57
Yes, so very true!
simon7banks
November 27, 2012 at 22:13
I have one wart. I’m thankful for it. Oprah, what next?
400daystil40
November 28, 2012 at 08:01
Banana peels (the inside of the skin) remove warts! I wrote a post on that! 😛