I have to say that Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year, not because of the turkey and football, but because of the gratitude it triggers in so many. The day is a celebration of thinking abundantly and sharing our gratitude with those we appreciate. While it’s the perfect day for gratitude to abound, it shouldn’t be the only one.
We should celebrate Thanksgiving 365 days a year.
Twenty or so years ago while I was living in Dallas, I worked at a company where the president had an annual tradition of buying everybody turkeys, closing shop at lunch on Wednesday and giving us a long weekend to celebrate. I was mulling around the break room the day before Thanksgiving and I asked our new employee Joe, how he and his family planned on celebrating.What he said next stopped me in my tracks: “We celebrate Thanksgiving every single day in our house.” He went on the explain that he had recently relocated his family from a dangerous neighborhood to one close to our office after getting the job. Instead of worrying about their next meal or being a victim of crime, every day they had all they needed and felt safe. So for him, Thanksgiving was really for the rest of us – those that needed such a reminder to feel grateful.
That conversation reminded me of something my grandmother Billye always said: “Gratitude is a muscle and if you don’t work it out, you’ll get spiritually flabby.” She believed that we needed to find time every morning to give thanks as a way of “exercising our gratitude.”
Why is gratitude so important? First of all, it’s a boost to your health, according to a study conducted at UC Davis, where those who made a practice of integrating gratitude into their routine enjoyed better moods and experienced fewer physical ailments. For your attitude, consider gratitude a tonic that will help you get along better with others, overcome adversity and be more generous. Or as one taxi driver told me: Gratitude will give you a gracious attitude.”
Here’s my point: Make every day Thanksgiving by integrating action into your life that reminds you of how much you really have. In my book Today We Are Rich, I shared a morning routine that only takes a few minutes and will lock your mind into the people, opportunities and experiences that enrich your life. To celebrate Thanksgiving with a gift for you, I’ve created a short excerpt from the book that details my morning gratitude exercise that you can download and read here.
Recently, I ordered a few thousand copies of Today We Are Rich so I could offer boxes of gratitude and abundance to my friends at a great price. The book chronicles the life and teachings of Billye King Coffman, and the seven principles of Total Confidence she raised me with. I’m happy to sign each one personally to your friends and loved ones and ship them directly to you. Some of my associates have been giving this out as gifts to clients and others are spreading it around their friend-circle to boost everyone’s abundance mentality and resiliency. Reply to this message or contact me if you’d like pricing and I’ll get right back to you!
