I’m very grateful for where I am in life today. Yet, on the other hand, how well do I express appreciation to all those I’m thankful to have in my life and to the Universe for their part in it?

As summer slips to fall I am thrilled to remember all the moments this year filled with kindness. In light of all the 2020 blunders, people seemed a little nicer in 2021.

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama says, “All human beings have an innate desire to overcome suffering, to find happiness. Training the mind to think differently, through meditation, is one important way to avoid suffering and be happy.”

With the busy lives most of us live today, we have very little time for true self-expression.

In a world filled with unrest, negativity, hatred and division, there’s still so much to be thankful for. It would be so easy to get caught up in all the mayhem, but I refuse to.

A pale cream hue caressed the jagged rocks of the quarry. First dawn, when pitch darkness turns to light, a time of awakening, a time to watch the shadows melt.

What does hope reveal? Are you thankful that hope exists? Does it fill you with excitement, freedom or joy? Do you remember being thankful for hoping your peers, family members or friends become amazing, well-balanced or healthy people?

I am thankful for every time someone said NO. Because that made me find another way, another solution, another group, another team, another relationship.

Developing thankfulness is a personal journey. We don’t all have the same capacity to see all the happenings in our lives as events to be thankful for.