As we come out of our Canadian Thanksgiving, so many of us pause to consider what we are thankful for. When asked, many will respond with answers such as family, friends, work, or maybe where they live. All wonderful answers to be sure, but I wonder if we can dig deeper.
What about if you were asked beyond those listed above, what else you were thankful for? There will be a few answers that will come fairly easily, but many will be slower. You see, we spend so much of our time thinking about what we want or need to do that we don’t take the time to be truly thankful in our lives.
Where do you spend your time and set your thoughts? Our days are filled with striving and working towards something, either a house, new car, fitness level, or new toy, something we feel we are lacking. But what we are truly lacking is contentment.
Think about it, where is most of your time and energy spent throughout the day? Where is your focus? On things you are thankful for, which brings peace and contentment, or on what we do or do not have, which brings only stress and dissatisfaction?
It’s so easy to focus on what’s pulling our time and energy; our possessions and our circumstances. It’s so easy to see what’s right in front of us, demanding our attention, but what we really need to do is step back and appreciate more than the expected answers of family and health, though those things are great to be sure.
When was the last time you really thought about what you have and were truly thankful for it? Or spent time reflecting on what you have instead of what you don’t? And thought about it without someone asking?
For me, there are so many things I am thankful for, such as music and colour. I am so thankful we live in a world that is not black and white, but that we are blessed with colour. And not just one or two, but thousands even within a colour.
And music! The way it can change even the worst of moods or makes you want to dance. We could have existed in a world without, and that would have been awful! Music is so powerful, so beautiful, so meaningful.
Or today? Today I was specifically thankful that the puddles were still there at Tim’s and that I was free to speed through them to make a big splash! Thankful that I had enough time to get a coffee before work and therefore get to make my big splash.
You may say that you don’t have anything to be thankful for because… because nothing. There is always something in your life to be thankful for – if you take the time to look. If you change your focus to reflect on things you are thankful for you will likely find your stress beginning to melt away.
I challenge you for this next week to pick one thing each day that you are thankful for. You can only use each one once, and try being creative! See where it just might take you.