November is a month when we look at those things for which we are thankful.

Several years ago, I was able to take a long weekend to visit some friends and family out of state.  As busy as my daily life is, I normally don’t have the time to read things for pleasure. So for this trip, I had heard about a book written by Deborah Norville that I thought I could read for pleasure and perhaps gain some benefits as well.  Her book Thank You Power – Making the Science of Gratitude Work for You shares real life stories and the way people overcame challenges and were thankful for the experience to make them grow.

Several of her points included:

1. Make a point to say thank you to someone today.
2. Daily, or at least weekly, list three things for which you are grateful, include the why and who if possible.
3. Write a gratitude letter to someone.  It lets you say thank you to someone overdue to hear it.
4. Focus on things of beauty and share it.  How often can the mundane enhance your life?
5. Accentuate the positive.  When you are feeling down, take a few minutes to list the positives in your life.
6. Envision the life you’d like. Find a blessing in something bad.  Focus on how you can turn a bad situation around.
7. Do something for someone else – no thanks expected or accepted. (Remember the movie about paying it forward?)
8. Embrace your enemy.  Look around – what is right with your world?
9. When you look at the positives in your life, it makes you more resilient against the negatives.

While I enjoyed the stories associated with each of these points, I also thought about the things in my life associated with each of them.  I would like to share a few of the things for which I am most thankful in this season of giving thanks:

• The skills and talents that I enjoy each day in which I get to express my creativity;
• The era of technology that allows me to travel to see friends who live hundreds of miles away in the matter of hours or talk to them in seconds wirelessly.
• The senses I use to see glorious colors of the sun rising or setting in the sky; hear the birds chirping or wind chimes ringing; taste the spicy flavor of my favorite meal; smell the fresh mown hay or a turkey roasting; feel softness of the fur on my pets.
• And most of all, my husband, family and friends who love me and support me when I am feeling good or bad.