Rather than wait until the blessing on the food on Thanksgiving Day to start feeling thankful, why not start today. Begin counting your blessings, thinking about all of the positive things in your life. You might even want to make a list and add to it each day.
To begin with, make a list of all of the people who have done something nice to you today, yesterday, last week, or in the past. A kind word when you needed one, a helping hand, a welcome visitor--anyone who left you with a good feeling that someone cared about you. Now get some note cards and write a thank you card to each one of these people, at least one a day. Just write a short "Thank you" message, not a long note. This idea comes from the book "365 ThankYous: The Year a Simple Act of Gratitude Saved My Life" by John Kralik, a book reviewed on this blog before. The notes must be hand written. No emails, text messages, quick phone calls. Write them by hand, put an address and a stamp on them, and mail them. The repetitive act of sending these thank yous will reinforce your own gratitude toward people but also will affect the lives of those to whom your message is sent.
