As Thanksgiving Day nears I find myself thinking about life… it’s taken me many years to understand how my everyday choices have molded me into who I am. And the more thought I give to it, the more appreciation I feel for the things that make it so.

I once had someone tell me that, “The things we take for granted, will one day be taken from us.” I’ve digested that statement over and over again for years now and it’s led me this holiday season to ask myself the question of ‘Does one really have to lose something before they can have a true appreciation for it?’ In short… my answer today would be NO. One doesn’t have to lose something to fully appreciate it, if they do it right along their way. That being said, I am incredibly appreciative for the life I get to live right now. At the same time however I can’t help but feel the desire to be even more self-aware and grateful on a daily basis. Being thankful for what we have should never be condensed down into just one calendar day of the year.

So, as I sit here and write out my strategy to find a better way to treat every day like it was Thanksgiving (no, not eating until I pass out, but rather committing to spending time daily to be grateful), something begins to dawn on me. The more we experience the things that we have, from the miraculous to the simplest, the more they become invisible to us. We become so familiar with having these things in our daily lives that we lose sight of our appreciation for them and inevitably take them for granted.

So back to that statement I once heard of the things we take for granted, will one day be taken from us. Whether or not we make it true, imagine if everything you took for granted was gone tomorrow. This inspired me to write out a list of what I am most grateful for, yet I tend to often overlook and under-appreciate. I plan to review this list once a day while adding to it over time.

It is certainly an incomplete list, as I have more to be thankful for than I could ever list off, but here are the things that at the time of writing this, mean the most to me. The things I am choosing to be consciously grateful for every single day moving forward.

I’m grateful for:

The love and respect that my wife and I share for each other
My two wonderful parents who brought me up in a loving home
The bond that I share with my two brothers
A brain and body that allows me to see, hear, taste, smell and feel the world around me
My two ever faithful dogs

I’m grateful everyday for the choice I have:

To be optimistic
To maintain my dignity and respect for myself
To learn from my mistakes and try again when I fail
To choose the attitude I take with me everywhere, everyday
To have trust and hope
To see the good in others
To ask for help myself and not let my ego get in the way
To be a good listener
To be an original version of me, and not a replica of someone else
To be a gentleman
To teach and develop myself
To have a sense of humor
To see problems as possibilities
To not let vanity overtake me
To not let money or greed or power be the driver of me
To not let possessions define me
To appreciate differences in opinions
To realize that I’m not always right
To appreciate nature and its role in our world
To communicate effectively
To be open and willing to change
And lastly, I’m grateful for the choice I have to show my appreciation for how very fortunate I am to be alive and healthy to write this today.

For all these things, and many more, I am truly grateful. Each of these things are priceless to me. I couldn’t buy any of them with all the money in the world, and I wouldn’t trade any of them for it either. The more I look at this list, the more I realize how much gratitude is a choice and how much of a difference it makes in our lives.

So, thank you Thanksgiving, for reminding me yet again, why one day of self-awareness is simply not enough to show the appreciation for everything we ought to be grateful for. And thank you in advance to anyone willing to remind me to live by my list.

Cheers & Happy Thanksgiving!

Matt

The Forgotten Holiday

It wasn’t too long ago we had a holiday between Halloween and Christmas. What was it called again? Oh yeah, Thanksgiving. In a world dominated by consumer marketing, we watch shelves of candy corn and costumes swiftly get replaced with Christmas trees and giant inflatable candy canes. What the heck happened to Thanksgiving?! Where did it go?

Thanksgiving needs more marketing.

I’m not talking about giant inflatable cornucopias. I’m talking about all of us being Thanksgiving “marketers” and encouraging ourselves and each other to put more focus and attention on thankfulness. There is always, always, always, something to be thankful for. Hell, there’s even reason to be thankful for the bad things in life, because they open up our eyes to be even more appreciative of the good things we weren’t paying enough attention to before.

In honor of this one-day-holiday (that we should really celebrate every day of the year), I wanted to share the six things I’m most grateful for:

I’m thankful for everybody in my life. Good and bad. Past and present. Because they have helped make me who I am today.
I’m thankful for my struggles in life as they have helped forged me become a stronger man.
I’m thankful for my health, for without it, I’m nothing but fertilizer.
I’m thankful to live in a country where I have freedom to choose, think and speak for myself.
I’m thankful for all that I have as well as all that I don’t have.
I’m thankful for my best friend and wife, Kristin.

Although we may not see Thanksgiving plastered across the shelves of retail stores, let’s not overlook it’s importance. Let’s remember this day of thanks, today and every single day of the year. And let’s spread the attitude of gratitude to everyone around us.

Give Thanks & Live Inspired,

Matt

Consciously Being Grateful

I’m grateful for:

I’m grateful everyday for the choice I have: