Thanksgiving Is ALL About Gratitude: Nothing More, Nothing Less

Thanksgiving always brings up incredible visuals, smells, sounds and emotions for me and none of them can be found 'naturally' in California, but as they say life marches on.

Whenever we find ourselves going back in time -- which for me, often happens at the holidays -- it's a great idea to reflect on the past as a gift rather that a burden or whatever other emotion first comes up for us.

Thanksgiving is really about gratitude - nothing more, nothing less. Gratitude is focusing on what we have and cherishing it however small, rather than what we don't.

A few great quotes worth sharing, sure to move you into the mood if you're not already there:

Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone.  ~G.B. Stern

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.  ~Meister Eckhart

There is no such thing as gratitude unexpressed.  If it is unexpressed, it is plain, old-fashioned ingratitude.  ~Robert Brault

Gratitude is the memory of the heart.  ~Jean Baptiste Massieu, translated from French

Gratitude is an art of painting an adversity into a lovely picture.  ~Kak Sri

As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself daily.  The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning upon a blessed world.  ~Terri Guillemets

I'll end with Emerson: 

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson