It is literally true, as the thankless say, that they have nothing to be thankful for. He who sits by the fire, thankless for the fire, is just as if he had no fire. Nothing is possessed save in appreciation, of which thankfulness is the indispensable ingredient. But a thankful heart hath a continual feast.
-- W.J. Cameron

You create your own life – the good, the bad, the normal, the extraordinary. When you are grateful, for everything that comes your way, more shows up. It’s all about focus. You can focus on what you have or on what you don’t have. That is your choice.

The universe gives you more of what you focus on. So if you focus on the things you don’t want, you get more of that. But if you focus on the outcome you want, you can make that happen, too.

The magic happens when you can look at everything in your life and be thankful – for the learning experience, for the extra day, for the new family member. (smile)

When you say, “Good morning” to someone, are you ever greeted with “What’s good about it?” My response is always to provide them with a list. After all, they asked, didn’t they? I’ll respond with “I’ll tell you what’s good. I have a new grandson who is just adorable, and I have this wonderful house that has room for my grandson and his parents to live, and I have more friends than I can count, and I have enough food to eat, and a car that is paid for (finally!). I do work that I love and that makes me want to get up in the morning�” Halfway through that, the person with the negative attitude has left me, not wanting to be bombarded with all my “positivity.” I can be relatively sure that person will never again ask me, “What’s good about it?”

There's always something to be grateful for.

The last few weeks I have had the amazing opportunity to teach at the Dwyer Street Overflow Emergency Shelter. People land at this shelter for all sorts of reasons. There are some who are chronically homeless and I’m sure there are issues that I will never understand. But the people I met were people just like me, who had lost a job or had medical problems that had ruined them financially. They ended up with no place to live and a need for some sort of temporary help. It doesn’t take much time in a situation like that to lose your gratitude. And yet, I saw people who were still grateful. They were grateful to people and organizations for donating toilet paper, soap, sheets, pillows, and clothing. I met people who had lived in the shelter and had since moved on, who come back to visit, bringing items that are needed.

I choose every morning to focus on the positive things in my life. I give thanks everyday for what I receive. What are you most thankful for?

With all the problems in the world, what’s good about this Thanksgiving? I’ll tell you what’s good. I get to spend it with my new grandson, Moses, his mother and father, two of Moses’ other grandparents, and numerous friends. I have a home that I am able to share with all these people. I have the ability to choose what I focus on, and I choose to be grateful.

This Thanksgiving – and all through the holiday season – I wish you as much happiness as I have, and the ability to be grateful.

I had a number of entries in last month's puzzle, but no one sent in the correct answer. Last month's question was: Suppose you have been given a device that enables you to take small leftover pieces from bars of soap and compress them together to form an entire new bar. Six leftover pieces form one new bar. If you have saved up 246 soap leftovers, how many bars of soap will you eventually obtain by putting the scraps together?

Many of you answered 41, which was the most obvious answer - you take 246 leftovers, divide by 6 and get 41. But each of those 41 bars would have a leftover piece, right? That gives us 6 more bars (and 5 unused leftovers. Those 6 bars will leave us with pieces that will make up one more bar. Then we take those 5 unused leftovers and add to that last piece. We end up with 49 bars total.

Okay, an easier one: A friend of mine just opened up a sandwich shop. It takes her 5 minutes and 45 seconds to make a typical sandwich. Assuming she can work at the same rate the whole time, how long will it take her to make 60 typical sandwiches? Try not to use a calculator on this one.

The first correct response will receive a $25 gift certificate from Entree's .

I'm organizing volunteers again this year for the 6th Annual Small, Minority, & Women Business Owners Conference. The event will be held Friday, December 8th, at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

This event brings together buyers from Federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as private corporations, who are looking to purchase goods and services from small, minority, and women-owned businesses. It's an amazing event.

If you can help with registration or crowd control or any number of other duties that my wonderful volunteers need to do, please email me. If you know of groups that would like some visibility during this event, this can be a great opportunity for them. They can help while wearing their company T-shirts. We need a ton of volunteers, so bring friends! Just let me know so I can get information out to all who are interested.

Check out the information on the County's website and be sure to register for the event, even if you aren't volunteering.