Day 20: Thankful for the Morning
Good morning! It’s Day 20 of the Thankful Days Challenge. Today we are showing gratitude for glorious mornings! Morning is a special time for busy people. While some love mornings, others loathe them. What are your mornings like? Do you start each day by firing up the computer, checking email, and logging into social media? Does your smartphone accompany you to the bathroom for your morning routine? What if instead of plugging into technology first thing in the morning, you gave your body, mind, and spirit permission to awaken fully present, with complete and total sensory awareness of your surroundings? Make Your Morning Mellow Morning is a beautiful, peaceful time.…
Day 19: Thankful for Celebrations
Today for Day 19 of the 30 Thankful Days, we will celebrate the joy of celebrations. Do you ever forget to be thankful for holiday celebrations and special occasions? If you’re a busy parent, sometimes these events can seem more like a chore than a cherished time. Truth be told, holidays and occasions can bring on more pressure than is really necessary. For one thing, stores tend to start hyping up holidays often a full two months ahead of the actual day of celebration. Why is this? Well, it’s probably because with most parents working outside of the home these days and having little time to prepare, it makes sense…
Day 17: Thankful for Those Who Perform a Service
Thanks for joining us on Day 17 of the 30 Days Thankful Challenge. Today we’re focusing on people who have dedicated their lives to performing service for others. Said another way, people helping people. In our society, we have so many people working difficult jobs in service to others. It’s gotten so commonplace that we don’t even think about these folks and the daily sacrifices they make. Many, many individuals give of their time, energy, and resources performing demanding jobs for long hours, sometimes also for low pay or even on a volunteer basis. Consider Those in Service Think about nurses who work the late shift at the hospital who…
Day 16: Thankful for Beautiful Music
On Day 16 of the 30 Days Thankful Challenge, we’re sharing our appreciation for great music. Welcome! Are you a fan of music? The majority of people warm to some type of tune, be it a bluesy number, energetic pop song, country twang, rousing rap, or some other type. Music is incredibly powerful. Humans use it to rouse emotion in each other. Religious people rely heavily on music to evoke feelings and sentiments. People feel so strongly about it that they’ll electively choose a specific song or melody to represent themselves, their country, and their people. Music lulls small children to sleep and enlivens old folks who want to avoid…
Day 15: Thankful for Difficult People
Welcome to Day 15 of our 30 Thankful Days Challenge. Today’s topic is gratitude towards difficult people. It makes sense — read on! Today’s Thankful thoughts focuses on the unexpected benefit of having people in our lives who challenge us each day. We mean those difficult people who don’t always cooperate with our needs, who challenge our egos and make us work to get what we want. Why would anyone feel grateful for people who make their lives difficult, you wonder? Isn’t it better to have easygoing friends, family, lovers, and coworkers who agree with everything we say and do? Wouldn’t it be more productive to just avoid those people…
Day 13: Thankful for Freedom of Expression
On Day 13 of the 30 Thankful Days Challenge, we’ll spend some time feeling grateful for free speech. Do you take for granted your right to express yourself freely, both in person and via online platforms? Imagine a world where you weren’t permitted to express your real opinions. Imagine if using a certain word or making a certain implication about your nation’s leaders resulted in imminent death, torture, or both. It’s not pleasant to think about. But everyone is not as fortunate… Power of Our Words on the Internet Have you considered the vastly powerful tool that we have at our hands, which can be used for either the betterment…
Day 12: Thankful for Our Furry and Feathered Friends
Welcome to Day 12 of the 30 Thankful Days Challenge. Today we will show our gratitude for our pets. There’s no doubt about it. People love their pets. Today we’ll give thanks for our furry, feathered and four-legged friends who bring us joy and soothe our souls with their peaceful and loving ways. Do you have a dog, cat, or other pet? Or might you have several of them? Pets need us, and we need them. The Wonder of Pets Pets show us love, affection, and loyalty without expecting anything more than the bare minimum of food, water, and shelter from us. Oh, and they occasionally hope to play ball,…
Day 11: Thankful for Nature
On Day 11 of the 30 Thankful Days Challenge, we’ll focus on our gratitude for nature. Nature, what a beautiful, amazing and miraculous thing! Life as it exists on our planet. The perfect conditions for plants to grow, for insects and reptiles and mammals to thrive in their own, perfectly balanced, miniature worlds within our world. Nature inspires humans to brave the elements, risk our safety by immersing ourselves in the midst of nature – climbing to the top of that jagged mountain or facing the roaring river rapids with nothing but a flimsy raft and lifejacket to protect us. In nature, we feel most alive and connected to the…
Day 9: Thankful for a Bounty of Fresh Food
Thanks for joining us on Day 9 of the 30 Thankful Days Challenge. Today, we’ll ponder the wonder of food, glorious food! Have you ever considered how far humans have come with food, and how truly awe-inspiring that is? We started with ordinary plants and animals. Then came fire. Fire-grilled meats, vegetables, and fruits too! Something for everyone! Science and Food? Today, food is both a science and an art form. How did humans instinctively know that certain food combinations just go together, not only for taste but to facilitate digestion and absorption of nutrients? Did you know that when you cook spinach and serve it with olive oil and…
Day 8: Thankful for Creature Comforts
On Day 8 of the 30 Thankful Days Challenge, we’ll be sharing our gratitude for creature comforts. Imagine life without heat to warm our homes in the frigid cold of winter. Imagine suffering through 90-degree summer days without an A/C unit to keep us comfortable and ensure a good night’s sleep. What if your home didn’t have electricity or an internet connection? How far would you have to travel to get plugged in and connected to the rest of the world? Too often we take for granted the basics that enhance our lives in ways that seem small but are actually quite significant. To think, in some parts of the…
