Gratitude is:

“Gratitude, thankfulness, gratefulness, or appreciation is a feeling or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive”

(according to wikipedia)

I sometimes wonder if it is our basic human nature to complain and have negative thoughts. I know that it’s hard not to.  Sometimes it takes more effort to remain positive, especially when life sends us lemons. There are many books on this subject and I don’t plan to get into it here, except to say that I try to live my life by the Law of Attraction(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_attraction).  I believe that what I put out there (into the world) comes back to me. If I put out negativity, I will get negativity back. I think the things we read and watch also influence our world and so I do not watch the news or read articles about crime in the newspaper. There is no need to. And if the Apocalypse does come, someone will tell me and I will find a way to get to my friend Andrea’s house, who is prepared for it.

There is a lot of goodness in the world and Thanksgiving is the perfect time to think about the good things in our lives.  I have so many and want to share a few:

First, I found a couple of quotes that rang true for me.

Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.

Alphonse Karr

And with winter coming and with it the brutal temperatures and wind and cold and icy roads and snow. But in the meantime, we have had October and it has been glorious!

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

So my main list goes something like this:

I am so very thankful for:

• My friends and family and my dog; knowing that there is always someone who I can talk to or do stuff with.  It’s huge. Knowing that my dog is always there to cuddle with and lick my nose is a blessing.
• Photography; having a second career that I love is a huge high for me. I love photographing children and babies and meeting all the people who I’ve met through photography.
• Peace in my life; I remember going to a Robert Provencher workshop (http://westmountphotography.com) about 6 years ago and he said that you can’t get anywhere in a photography business until you have peace in your life. I have Peace in my life. I am so grateful for that.
• Good health; when I see people fighting major illnesses I thank my lucky stars for my good health.

Those are the big things but there are a million other things that I am grateful for:

• living in Canada
• books
• walking in the park in Oct.
• chocolate
• 

• Scrabble
• iPhones

• computers
• Lightroom
• red tomatos
• lilies

• chocolate (Oops said that already)

• the beautiful colours of fall

• being a teacher
• the birds on my hot tub cover who use it as a bird bath
• sunlight through the trees
• Bunn’s Creek Park
• Kilcona Park
• seeing Paul McCartney in concert with my son
• listening to my grandson play the saxophone over the phone
• red wine
• coffee

I could probably go on but you get the idea.

Be grateful. Spread the positive. Give someone a hug today or say a kind word to a stranger.

Be Positive and be Grateful.

Related articles

• Top Ten Reasons to Activate the LAW of GRATITUDE (dancingthroughthestorms.wordpress.com)