DO YOU APPRECIATE LIFE? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 90

Have you ever known anyone who is happy all of the time or most of the time?  Have you known anyone who is unhappy all of the time or most of the time?  What is the difference between them?  Do you think it is because one is more fortunate than the other?  Do you think it is because one is healthier than the other?  Is it because one has a happy marriage or relationship while the other has neither?  Is is because one loves his or her job and the other one either has no job or hates the job he or she has?

While I can accept that any individual's personal circumstances can affect their attitude, I really do not think that their happiness or unhappiness is the result.  I think people who are happy most of the time have a true appreciation for life and the wonder of it.  Life is a miracle..........look at a newborn baby and think about his journey to enter the world.  Think about all he will learn and do and how much he will physically grow in his first year of life.

Abraham Lincoln said something to the effect, "People are as happy as they make up their minds to be."  I very much believe he was right. We all have problems and misfortune from time to time, but each day look around you and actually identify the blessings of your life, the world, nature, family, friendships, work, and recreation.

Today's message is:

LIFE IS WONDERFUL!

Thankful and Thanksgiving Day

For those who celebrate Thanksgiving Day, I hope you had a wonderful day with family, friends or volunteering.  This is the first time in a long time I did not cook Thanksgiving dinner, but this year I was not up to it.  I am feeling much better but seem to not have regained my energy and stamina yet.

I opted to make a reservation at my favorite restaurant and treated my cousin and my adorable 93-year old neighbor to dinner.  The food was delicious, and we all enjoyed it.  I did cook the next evening though for the three of us.  My neighbor's daughter-in-law had caught fresh wild salmon in Washington, and offered to provide it for dinner.   I marinated it in Sesame Ginger sauce, grilled it on a cedar plank, and it was delicious if I do say so myself.  We all ate too much on both evenings but enjoyed every morsel.

My son and his family live in Japan which is too far away to visit for the weekend.  My daughter normally is here for Thanksgiving weekend, but a new job  required her to stay in New York.  My cousin lives in a suburb of Los Angeles but joins us in the desert for the holidays each year.  She did a great job of putting the lights on my Christmas tree since that is something my daughter always has done for me and one more thing I am not yet up to doing for myself.  Slowly I will get the ornaments put on it, but the lights are a real chore so I am grateful to her for her assistance.

We did take time on Saturday to go to the movies where we saw  Lincoln,  and it deserves all the great reviews it is getting.  Daniel Day Lewis should win an Oscar for his superb portrayal of Lincoln.  Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones were also outstanding as were so many other actors and actresses whose names are too numerous to mention here.  If you have not seen the film, I hope you will have an opportunity to do so.  Even if you are not a history buff you will still enjoy the film I think.  I am not a history buff at all, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This year my family and I especially have so much for which to be thankful, and I try to be grateful each day and not just on Thanksgiving Day.   I know sometimes I fall short of that goal, and my vow is to try to do better in the months ahead.  There are so many people in this world who are in harsh situations, and by comparison I know I am blessed and more fortunate.  I hope I will continue to remember that daily and do whatever I can to help others.

What about you?  Are you fortunate or unfortunate?  Are you grateful or ungrateful?  I would very much like to hear from you as to what you are thankful for or as to what your misfortune may be.  Thanks for taking time to read today's post.