Tag: Thanksgiving

THE MAGIC THANKSGIVING FORMULA

These three words, in this order, have become almost cliche. We see them just about everywhere. On signs, dish towels, t-shirts and numerous other locations. What we may fail to realize, is these three words, so often in front of us, are actually a formula for an amazing life. They are steps listing how to live a life of inner peace, abundance and joy. In only three words, we can learn a great way to live! Let us take a little deeper dive.

Today in the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving. A holiday in which we are supposed to focus on all we have to be thankful for. Sadly, it seems to get lost with all of the excitement of Halloween and Christmas. In this humble holiday is the secret to an amazing life. The word ‘thankful’ is most often associated with feeling and showing appreciation for what is wonderful in our lives. That is the first step in positively transforming our lives. Change your focus from what you lack in your life to everything you have. This simple change will reduce your stress, increase your joy and help you realize how wonderful and abundant you have it. What better day to start than on a holiday that is all about being thankful?

Many people think that ‘thankful’ and ‘grateful’ are the same. They do differ in a very important way. It is this step that will put us on the path to living an amazing life. While ‘thankful’ is feeling appreciation for all the good we have in our life, ‘grateful’ is extending our appreciation for everything and everyone in our life. Even those who at first glance may not seem to be something good. When you are grateful, you appreciate both the valleys as well as the peaks of life. You understand that challenges often provide us just as much, if not more, to appreciate than the easy times. We grow more with challenges. Think of lifting weights. If you only lift easy weights, you will not get any stronger. It is in the heavy, or challenging weights, that we grow our muscles and become stronger. The same is true of our character, our inner peace and every aspect of our life. The challenges offer us a place to grow and strengthen our life. The easy and successful times allow us to celebrate, the challenges to grow. When we learn this, being grateful becomes a way of life. Either we win or we learn.

The last step in our equation is ‘blessed’. This is what happens when we learn to be both ‘thankful’ and ‘grateful’. We begin to notice how everything in life happens for us and not to us. When you learn to put both the accomplishments and challenges of life to work for you, than life is a never-ending fountain of blessings. Yes, even those moments that tear our hearts apart can end up being a blessing. It can teach us more in the pain than we could ever learn any other way. It can often teach us quicker than we care to learn. It can also provide us a credibility and ability to teach others going through similar struggles. We can use our pain and struggle to bless others. That, in itself, is a blessing.

Do you see how a simple formula can provide a dramatic shift in mindset. That, in turn, can give us a monumental shift in the trajectory of our life. It can alleviate a great deal of stress and provide us with a great deal more of hope and joy. Think of this formula as you go about your life. Not just today, but every day. Start by being thankful for all the good you have in your life. Really focus on that. Next, contemplate how you could be grateful for everything in your life. See the benefits even the pain and challenges give you. Before long you will walk around feeling blessed!

WE DID IT! EARLY AT THAT!

Never in my wildest dreams would I ever imagine that I would be writing a daily inspirational blog for over 13 years! What makes my heart so full of gratitude is that we seem to be growing our community and reaching more souls in more places. Still no Greenland, but we will get there. We are in over 200 countries and this year, as of this writing we have had over 28,000 views. That is the second most in 13 years! Even better is we have reached over 22,000 people. That is the most in 13 years.

My life’s mission is to leave the world a little better than I found it. Through sharing the tools and strategies I continue to learn, I believe I am doing just that. With all of your help, and lately with a lot of our friends in China, we will continue to grow and positively impact the lives of all of those we care about.

This blog was started on Thanksgiving in 2012. Gratitude is the one thing that will change not only our lives, but the world at large, quicker than anything else I know. Tomorrow we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the United States. While there are lots of things we need to improve, there are still a lot we have to be grateful for. I look forward to continuing to serve you and to increase engagement as we look forward to the coming year. With your help, 2026 can be our biggest and most impactful year yet!

THE GIFT YOU MUST GIVE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

Everyone is concerned about giving gifts others will enjoy. Some even done themselves crazy until they find what they think is the perfect gift. I can be a little guilty of that myself. In my book, Living the Dream, I reveal a secret of how to get inside information to discover that gift.

Today we will look at one gift that is universally appreciated. It does not cost a lot but is also rare and priceless. How can that be? Let us take a look.

The gift we are talking about is gratitude. Not just a simple thank you. Although that can go a long way during the busy holiday season when everyone is stressed. We are talking about genuine, heartfelt gratitude. Taking time to not only voice, but show what you appreciate about someone. That can be in a Christmas card, in person over Thanksgiving dinner or over coffee.

Gratitude is also a gift we should remember to give ourselves this holiday season. Be grateful for all of the people you have the opportunity to brighten their holidays. Feel genuine gratitude for not only the blessings you have, but the troubles you do not. We often spend our time doing the reverse.

Gratitude is the best give we can give this holiday season. It will warm hearts and bring smiles. It will help reduce stress and increase joy. What are you thankful for?

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY-ISH 😊

We started this blog on Thanksgiving in 2012. Every Thanksgiving we celebrate being able to bring inspirational and empowering thoughts and information to you. Of course the focus today is on gratitude. We are followed in over 200 countries, so what we can be thankful for can vary.

There are some universal things that we may not stop to appreciate that at truly amazing. Take your body. It turns food into energy and materials that help the body grow and repair itself. Speaking of repair, think of what it does when you get a cut. Before long, it is completely gone, or in some cases you are left with a scar. Can you imagine if the body did not repair itself and you were left wearing all of the injuries inflicted on you?

We can expand to think of how nerves work to help us experience the world of touch, taste smell and hearing. Think of all the cells in our bodies and how they work together. Our immune system is a miracle in itself.

Today, when we count our blessings, do not forget to include all the Miracles existing in your own body. There is always something to be thankful for.

YOUR NOT SO SECRET POWER 🦸‍♂️🦸‍♀️

Look at this list of amazing things that gratitude can do! It may be hard to believe, in fact you shouldn’t. Don’t take my word for it. Don’t take the word of whoever made this picture. When I was still in the early phases of my self-improvement journey, someone told me this very thing. I decided to try it for 30 days to prove them wrong. You can hear the whole story in my first book, A Happy Life for Busy People.

That is exactly what I am recommending  here today. Honestly do your best to be grateful as often as you can for 30 days straight. If you stumble and have a negative day, just dust yourself off and try to go for 30 days after that.  I guarantee it will transform your life for the better. With Thanksgiving being tomorrow, what a perfect day to start!

If you need help on how to start an attitude of gratitude, either search ‘gratitude’ on this blog, or even Google how to become grateful. So many people from Oprah to the Dalai Lama know the power of gratitude, so there is plenty of information online!

I would love to hear your results of this experience, or any experience you have with the power of gratitude. Let’s share and inspire each other!

WHILE YOU ARE OUT SHOPPING 🛍

Today, in the United States, it is what they call ‘Black Friday’. One of the biggest shopping days of the year. In the past, it was marked with people acting crazy, some even resorting to violence, all in the name of getting a good price on a product. Luckily, that has improved slightly with the online shopping avenue.

Still, as you go out today, remember to be kind. To the workers. They are stressed with being so busy. They are also probably working long hours. There are people shopping who may be feeling sad about being unable to purchase what they really want for their loved ones. There will be people who are stressed because they are just trying to get through the day but it is taking longer than normal because of all the people out and about. Finally, there are people with heavy hearts facing the first holiday after losing a loved one.

You have the power to add a little joy to each of these people’s lives. Use that power today. Each bit of kindness makes the world a better place whether you see it or not.

JUST SOME OF THE BENEFITS

On a day specific for being thankful, we may ask what the big deal is. If you haven’t made gratitude a part of your life, you may not appreciate the benefit. Gratitude makes changes quicker than any other thing I know. Here are just a few of the things that will improve in your life when you begin to focus on what you have to be grateful for.

This can be accomplished by designating as little as 5 minutes a day. This can be done on the way to work. Maybe on the way home? How about right before bed? That will give you some good dreams. If you do it first thing in the morning it will start your day off right. Use Thanksgiving as a day to start this habit for a better life today!

WHAT IS YOURS?

Tomorrow is my favorite holiday – Thanksgiving! It is a celebration of all we are grateful 🙏 for. We can get so fixated on what needs fixing in our lives, we can often overlook what is working.

Today, let’s take a second, at the very least, to look around and take stock of what IS working and what we have to be grateful for. If you were to spend 5 minutes a day on this activity, it will change your life. Living in gratitude has so many amazing benefits it would take another post to list. DON’T trust me on this one. Try it for yourself.

CELEBRATE OUR ANNIVERSARY!🥳

Today we celebrate 10 years of this blog! I began this journey in 2012 with just a desire to share with others the tools and strategies that helped me positively impact my life. I never dreamed it would turn into what it is today. There are many things that I have learned in the past decade of sharing ideas with you. First of all, I am still learning and sharing. Self-improvement is very much like physical fitness. You are never ‘there’. There is always maintaining and learning to do. You will mess up. You will have bad days. Life will throw a whole lot at you and you will need to develop new ways to handle new problems. It is the learning and growing that develops from that which is so rewarding.

I also learned how similar we are. When I started I had…well…zero followers. That was never the goal. Still, my desire to share with and help as many people as I can, allowed this blog to now be followed in over 200 countries and by over 50,000 people. I learned a fellow in Italy and I not only like the same music, but are both dedicated to improving ourselves and have had some of the same influences.

Another thing we are celebrating today is Thanksgiving. It is no coincidence that I started this blog on this day. One primary secret to an amazing life is Gratitude. In my own life, it has done the most to positively transform my life. As I reflect on the last 10 years of my life, one thing I am most grateful for is my lovely lady. Margie has been pushing me outside my comfort zone for as long as I can remember. One of the first examples was putting flyers up for my first book signing. We were in the village of Greendale where I worked for the Post Office. The book signing was to be held at a local coffee shop. I had 2 businesses in mind to put flyers at. One of them being the coffee shop. Margie looked at me and simply said, “No, we are going to ask to put them up at every business in the village!” I was tempted to tell her that I thought she was on the brink of insanity, but she was so cute and so insistent. What I thought was going to be a five minute ordeal inside my comfort zone, ended up being a half a day where she would say, “I’ll go in with you.” Then she would push me towards the counter and disappear and make me promote myself. It made the book signing the success it was. Not much has changed two books later.

There is so much in my life to be grateful for. Just today I was recalling how my grandmother used to make pans of barbeque chicken. The whole family would come over and eat all of the delicious food she would make. These days I am grateful for walks in nature and trips to the gym with my mom and wonderful meals created by my beautiful Margie, who is an amazing cook. I think my Grandmother would have really loved her. I know I do. Come to think of it, that is another secret to an amazing life. Find someone who will love you, but push you outside of your comfort zone and make you develop into the best version of yourself. It doesn’t hurt if they are lovely like my lady.

Today, there is lots for me to feel grateful for. The ability to share with you for 10 years. The ability to reach over 50,000 people in over 200 countries. The fact that my partner also happens to be the most beautiful lady in the world and I get to see her on the pillow next to me every night! That fact that we have wonderful memories to reflect on and the possibility to create even more! Today, I would be so grateful if you would share this website with at least one other soul you think could benefit from learning secrets to an amazing life. Together we can reach many more souls. Maybe in the Congo? Maybe in Greenland? Maybe in the town next to yours. We are all one global family of 8 billion.

REFOCUS THIS NOVEMBER

Let us begin our focus on gratitude this month. Thanksgiving can be a great celebration at the end of the month. How will you begin your month of gratitude.