So my best girlfriend of 34 years decided that this is “Thankful November” and that every day for a month she was going to say something on facebook that she was thankful for. Well not to be outdone, and because I think it’s a great idea, I decided to do the same thing. This should be really easy right? I mean I consider myself to be extremely blessed. I know for a fact that I have a bazillion things to be thankful for, but weird thoughts started to creep into my head like… what kind of things should I say, what if I forget to post on one day, what if I run out of things that are “important” enough to say? These are all gobbledegook ideas that I think we all (ok maybe only some of us) run through when we make a side bar commitment to ourselves. Well come to find out, I shouldn’t have had those crazy thoughts. In fact, the whole “exercise” has changed my life. I know it sounds weird, but stick with me here. I started out with a big thanks… to all of those working to restore normalcy to those affected by Hurricane Sandy, and then I jumped to silly things, like chocolate covered cashews at 10:00 a.m. and then some in between things, like authors who write books that feed my soul… but along the way a wondrous thing happened. I started LOOKING FORWARD to picking something in my life that I’m thankful for each day. And coming from that “little” place of gratitude has just completely changed my perspective… on everything. It’s like I now look at every moment through a lens of gratitude. Like the color orange (which covers my kitchen and living room walls) has always made me happy, but now I’m honestly thankful for its existence. Or my new dear friends at Q who make the place feel like “home” even though I’ve only been here for two years, or the overwhelming joy of new love (congratulations Shawn Killinger), or the profound privilege of voting. All of these things, and a bazillion others, deserve a moment of thanks. And even further, when I have a tough day, for whatever reason, I now turn the crystal and look for what I can be thankful for in that, or a similar situation. I don’t mean to be preachy, and I know that we all lead busy lives, and we can all easily say, “I’m thankful” every day. But here’s what I’ve learned… it’s the intention to BE thankful that has the power to uplift in immeasurable ways. It’s like the intention to be grateful has positioned me to be 9/10ths of the way there. So here’s my suggestion to you… make a “gratitude” jar, and every day, write a reason to be thankful on a piece of paper and drop it in the jar. I think you’ll find that the exercise changes things for you too. Oh, and before I forget, I’m thankful for you…. my QVC community… who make my life so much fun every single day.
Rachel
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