It seems like the holidays start earlier and earlier each year. Thanksgiving tablecloths and turkey platters have been on the shelves since early October right beside the ghosts and goblins for Halloween.
I love the holidays, but I like to enjoy one before I start preparing for the next one. We have become so commercialized that it's all about the marketing and exploiting of the holidays and not the joy of spending time with our family or giving thanks for our blessings.
I challenge each of you to start November as a month of thanks. Life gets us down and things don't always go our way. It is so hard to focus on the bad things we go through and forget the good. Purchase you a new journal or small diary. Every morning when you get up and pour that first cup of coffee or fix that first glass of Pepsi, write down one thing you have to be thankful for. Not just the majors: food, roof, family, health; but the little things. We all realize the big things even though we take them for granted sometimes. But dig down deep and find one thing about each particular day that you have to be thankful for. It may be the fact that you have a full tank of gas and won't have to stop at the station that day. Maybe you are having lunch with a co-worker who is special to you. Maybe you took the time to do your nails and love the new color. Whatever makes your day get off to a good start by making you smile, should be written in your journal.
You will be surprised how focusing on the "little things" will make the stress in your life lift just a little. Keeping our spirits up in trying times is one of the ways we keep our sanity. Find the joy in your life every day in November. On Thanksgiving morning, before you start your day, read the journal and smile at all the things you have to be thankful for.
