It's here again. The month

that can change your life forever. It's not a day, mind you, it's a month,

30 days of Thanksgiving.

It had to become a month for

me because a day wasn't long enough. A four-day weekend didn't even begin

to cut it. So, years ago, I decided I needed the month of November to

compile a list of all my "thank yous."

I start my list early so it

is complete by the official Thanksgiving Day. Actually, it is never complete

because I keep adding to it every year. But, by Turkey Day, an attitude

of gratitude has begun to rule.

It's good timing. Because the

rush is already well underway. Everybody knows the month of Christmas

(yes, it's a month, too!) is just around the corner, and not everybody

is especially jolly about it anymore.

I need to be reminded how important

it is to feel gratitude, to be thankful, and to express my thanks. I need

to remember... to think of the living and the dead, and how they have

influenced and blessed my life. I consider pets and other animal life.

I focus on nature and even inanimate objects/things. If I'm thankful for

it, I want it on my list.

If you decide to join me this

year, beware. All is not as it seems when one stops to consider that for

which one is thankful. If you dig deep and look close, things will be

revealed to you as never before. And you'll be the better for it.

For instance, remember how

you really fumed a few years back. To the point of abdominal pain for

weeks. You were beside yourself when you got laid off from your job.

Three weeks later a friend

of a casual acquaintance called. He heard you had some experience in a

certain field. An initial interview led to another interview, and still

another. All this while you searched the employment section of the want

ads daily.

Your savings dwindled. Your

wife announced she was pregnant. She comfortingly reminded you of Cobra,

but now you were paying for all of your insurance out of pocket and the

pocket was almost empty.

Get the picture? Now here you

are today making three times the salary you were five years ago, enjoying

your work tremendously, and going home everyday to the cutest little blond

tyke that ever walked the earth. Of course, if you had stayed in the old

job, held on to the status quo...

That's what I mean. When you

start to think about that for which you should be thankful, it takes you

back. Way back. Sometimes, you may be required to go farther back than

you think you want to go. But please have the courage to go where your

heart leads.

Oh, yeah, that's another thing.

All this thinking and reminiscing is a job for the heart. If you use only

your brain, you won't do it right. You must be willing to get to the heart

of the matter. Only then will the real truth emerge, the truth about that

for which you should be thankful.

So, you have experienced loss

this year that defies description. Your mate and child or children were

tragically killed. Or your home burned. Or your pet of 18 years died convulsing

in your arms. How dare I compare the loss of a family to the loss of a

pet? How dare I not...

Loss is loss. Pain takes its

toll in a million and one ways over a lifetime. And I am asking you to

take a whole month to dredge it up in order to bring to the surface that

for which you are thankful. Oh, yeah, I sure am.

And the keener your pain, the

more recent your loss, the greater your need to follow my suggestion.

Just stay focused. You are entitled to your pain and your grief, but that

is not to be the focus of this month's work. Think gratitude.

I know life can deal blows

from which we often think we will never recover. Heartache can consume

us which we are certain will never be diminished. And the sad truth is

there are individuals who do not ever recover. Don't you wonder what a

difference an attitude of gratitude might have made?

No matter how bad it is for

you right now, please join me in this exercise. Start your list today.

Encourage others to do the same. I will publish mine at the end of the

month. Can you have yours ready by then? I'd love to see it if you'd like

to share! My address is PO Box 246, Gay, GA 30218.