Learning to be Thankful
We need to Learn to be Thankful…
“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”
Why It’s Important to Be Thankful
You might be thinking:
“Why should I take the time to learn to be thankful?”
The easy answer is that gratitude can have a positive effect on psychological and physical well being.
It can:
- Increase your personal happiness
- Help you get better sleep.
- Increases your success at work.
- It improves your relationships.
- It makes you healthier.
- Increases your energy.
- It helps you relax.
- It helps you live longer.
- …Plus, much, much more.
It has been proven that “gratitude is a keystone habit — a simple way of acting that can have a great effect on many different points of your life”.
Therefore, practice it every day, and you will improve your life without even knowing it.
The reasons I choose to be Thankful
I remember sitting at home with my husband and the pastor, after a month of being in the hospital and having been told I have leukemia. I was telling them how thankful and blessed I am to be alive. With tears running down my face, I explained that even the smell of fresh laundry out of the dryer, birds singing, and my babies crying were things I would never take for granted again.
Some days are just awesome. I still feel so grateful and cherish every moment I can.
But then there are other days. Days when I do not feel much thankfulness at all. I feel sorry for myself and honestly just want to shut the world out to go back to bed.
When I feel like that, I know I have to focus my attention on God and know I am so thankful to be here and to be alive.
Because even if times feel hard, I can always find things to feel very grateful for about my life.
I want to share a list of 10 simple, basic things that I feel thankful for.
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.
10 Things That I am Thankful For
I am alive.
Just waking up is something I am so grateful for every day. Knowing I have this moment and this day makes me so grateful.
Being alive allows people to love, enjoy, and make their day the best.
Brething in fresh air.
I am grateful that even I breathe and live! I am able to walk outside a take a big long deep breath and not be worried about contaminated or polluted air.
If you live in a place with little or no pollution, be twice as thankful!
Friends and family
I know that without my family and friend I would not be who I am today. God has given me such an amazing family. He has blessed me with my two loving boys. And the friendships I have are so important to me. I praise God that I have these people in my life.
Be thankful for what you have of these people every day of your life. Because that means that you are not alone.
Every new day to learn and earn a living
I don’t have a job, but I have a government that pays me every month for disability. I’m so thankful that every day I have the chance to learn something new. Which I wouldn’t have if I didn’t receive some financial support.
. Many people don’t have the freedom to learn or work. We should be thankful for this provided opportunity.
A home
I am really am fortunate to be able to have keys to a home where I can eat, sleep, and relax.
Some people have to live in a car, in an abandoned house or building, in a shack, or on a park bench. Imagine those people who don’t have a home when complaining that your house is very hot or cold, or for a very high electricity bill.
Eating good food and have the choice to eat
I can always look in my fridge or freezer and find a few different options for eating. I don’t ever go hungry because of the lack of food.
Most of us don’t know what it must feel like waiting in line at the Food Bank. Or the Red Cross truck loaded with rice boxes for the needy.
We need to be so thankful every time we feed ourselves and nourish our bodies.
The clothes I wear.
When I get dressed in the morning, I get to choose what to wear. Depending on the weather I pick out various items. Sometimes I even try different shirts or pants because I don’t like the way something looks or fits. I have options to choose what I can wear for the day.
There are many people who don’t have the essentials to dress, much less to protect themselves from the climate. Keep that in mind, and be thankful.
The gift of being able to choose.
We always have the possibility to choose what we want to do and to change. This is truly a gift. We always have a choice, to choose our way.
And this is generally taken for granted and ignored. We need to be thankful for the chance to make choices that we want to make.
Every pleasant moment in my life
The sunrise and sunset.
The sound of laughter coming from my boys.
A cool swim in the water.
A crisp Autumn day when the trees are filled with leaves of vibrant colors.
The sun warming my face.
There are many moments during the day when we have memorable events that we need to be thankful for. Because all those moments and events are the ones that make up the peace and happiness of every human being.
The difficulties that I have faced and have made me stronger.
I have been through illness after illness many times in my life. And those events have made me stronger mentally and made me appreciate modern medicine. Without that, I probably wouldn’t be here today.
And it has made me more grateful than ever.
We need to be very thankful for the whole health care system that we have.
Try to think of o few or more things that make you feel happy. The things you are most thankful for. Sometimes it can turn your day around and put a smile on your face.
Be sure to read more of my posts on Everyday Living!
