This time of year we all reflect on what we are thankful for. Even though many are facing challenging times, the luckiest of us have the capacity to be thankful. Few however, know how incredibly powerful gratitude can be. Gratitude is nature’s greatest equalizer. No matter who you are, how much you have, where you came from, you can conquer sadness, depression and stress (among other things) by choosing to be thankful. Greater than any antidepressant, gratitude is the ultimate cure because sadness and gratitude cannot coexist in the same space at the same time. In other words, sadness cannot exist in a grateful heart.
Gratitude also puts us on a path to attract abundance unlike anything else.

Hope is sometimes more challenging for us. We are often bombarded by the “news” and it’s “predictions” of extended recessions, increasing layoffs, disappointing shopping seasons, and the like. It’s easy to not only lose sight of what we have to be thankful for, but to find hope of greater things to come.

I think Andy Andrews says it best (from AndyAndrews.com)

In addition, I have discovered proof of hope that has consistently lifted my heart, mind, and spirit to a point of forward motion. Very simply, it is this:

* Even in the worst of times, I must remember that I am still breathing.
* If I am still breathing, that means that I am still here.
* If I am still here, that means that I have not completed what I was put here to do.
* If I have not completed what I was put here to do, that means that my very purpose has not been fulfilled.
* If my very purpose has not been fulfilled, that means that the most important part of my life has yet to be lived.
* If the most important part of my life has yet to be lived, then it doesn’t really matter how old I am or how broke I am, how long I’ve tried or how depressed I might be … Here, at last, is proof that the best part of my life is ahead of me! Without a doubt, there is more laughter to come, more success in my future, more children to teach, more friends to influence. There is more.

There is more … and the promise is proven by the simple fact that I am still breathing. I am still here.

for this perspective, for this hope, and for the generosity of Andy Andrews for posting it, and my ability to receive it, I am thankful.