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As we prepare for Thanksgiving, l think that writing about gratitude is timely and foremost in many of our minds.

A guest on my program Sarah Ban Breathnach and bestselling author of Simple Abundance, wrote about gratitude in her book and I quote her in my book Pathfinding where she urges us to use a gratitude journal.

"The gratitude journal has to be the first step on the Simple Abundance path or it just won't work for you. Simplicity, order, harmony, beauty and joy - all the other principles that can transform your life will not blossom and flourish without gratitude... You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life, And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law; the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you."

Sarah talks about how when she had a devastating period in her life, she sat down and wrote 100 things she was grateful for. I have been practicing that in my life and it is powerful.  Writing 100 things seems overwhelming so I found a manageable way to do it. I choose 10 broad categories of what I am grateful for in my life. Examples are family, friends, work, special interests, living environment, travels,  etc. Then I choose 10 things within those  10 categories that I am grateful for. For example under family, it could be the closeness you have,the pride you feel in your children, the good communication you have with your spouse, etc. Doing this exercise does several things for you. It reminds you of what you have, makes you look at what is working for you, and who is supporting you. It brings you hope and joy. Your lists can also contain the little things that happen inyour life on a daily basis that are spontaneous and that make a huge difference.

My father, who passed three years ago, at the age of 95 told me this story which I included in my book, Pathfinding, that illustrates this point:

"In the mid-30's when I was in college, jobs were hard to find. One summer I was lucky to get a Saturday morning job from 6:00 a.m. to noon unloading banana boats in Boston. My first assignment involved carrying what they called a stalk of bananas from the hold of the ship up vertical steps to the processing area offshore.

The stalks were trimmed into hands for the bananas to be packaged for shipping. The weight of each stalk varied from forty to eighty pounds. They hung from the ceiling of the ship's hold in rows. Each of us would wear a rubber shoulder apron and stand beneath the next stalk. The man standing there would cut the string holding the stalk and it would drop onto your shoulder. Then burdened with the heavy stalk, you'd walk up the stairs to the processing areas.  It was backbreaking work. But I'll never forget the time it was my luck, or misfortune, to stand under an oversized stalk. I had difficulty carrying that load up the steps. I didn't think I would make it. Suddenly,out of nowhere,a hand took me by the seat of my pants and pushed me up the ladder until I could gain my balance and carry the load to the processing room. When I turned around to see who had given me that wonderful helpful hand,I looked directly into the face of a huge African-American man. At the time he had pushed me up the ladder, he was carrying his own load. I'll never forget the kind look on his face. It taught me to appreciate kindness wherever and from whomever I find it."

I will close with a quote from Melody Beattie, "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."