I have found it interesting that according to all of my Facebook friends the entire month of November is to be thankful daily instead of just on Thanksgiving Day. It is an interesting concept, but why does it only apply now to November? Why aren’t people thankful every day?

I have found that most of my life I have been thankful daily. It probably stems from my being raised in the south by a very southern mother that taught me, sometimes with a belt or a switch, that I use my manners and be grateful for everything I have. See I was taught from a very young age, no one owes you anything in life and you need to be grateful for everything you have. It seems our society has strayed away from that concept. Sadly there are a lot of Americans that feel entitled to things instead of earning them and being grateful when they receive them. I’m not talking about saying grace before one eats dinner; I mean sincerely being thankful for all of the good things in our lives daily. Everyone has something to be grateful for in their life.

I reflect at the end of each day in my being grateful in my daily prayers personally. But even an atheist can reflect and be grateful daily, because it is not a religious ritual to be grateful. See when you have a grateful spirit you attract more things to be grateful about into your life. By focusing on things you are grateful for, you will find you will have more positive thoughts. If you dwell on the bad things that happened daily, you will tend to stay negative which attracts more negative in your life. I find the entitled crowd seems to love to blame certain groups, corporations, government, republicans, democrats, parents, bosses, etc. When in reality they are making themselves a victim. The dictionary defines a victim as one who suffers from a destructive or injurious action or who is deceived or cheated as by one’s own emotions or ignorance. Doesn’t sound like a very positive experience to me? If you are grateful, happy and positive, you will find very soon you don’t like attending “pity parties” because they are not very fun. Positive things will come your way if you persist to have positive thoughts and have faith.

I find if I reflect (pray) about how fortunate I am to have been married for over 23 years with three great children. I have a great family, friends and a thriving business. Specifically, I pray about the best things that happened that day no matter how small. Do I have things that go wrong every day? You better believe it. I have some things that are so bad, I have no idea how it’s going to get better, but somehow it always works itself out.  I never focus on a bad situation. I am always grateful that it wasn’t any worse and I have faith it will work itself out. I just laugh it off and never worry about things. If you want a more positive life, you have to be grateful each and every day. Even if everything is going bad in your life, we all have something to be thankful, whether it is a roof over our head, food in our stomach, the beauty of a tree or our health.  Be Grateful everyday and you will find life is a wonderful ride. Happy Thanksgiving!

“In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.”–Brother David Steindl-Rast

Image by Stuart Miles at www.freedigitalphotos.net

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Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger and team leader with over 25 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.