This month we’re talking about thankfulness and I wanted to talk about what that looks like on a daily level. It’s not always easy to be thankful in our day-to-day lives. There are long stretches where things don’t happen. We just go about our day-to-day business, we go to work, we come home, we cook meals, we dine out, we meet friends and family and yet we don’t stop and appreciate and be thankful for the day-to-day things in our lives that comfort, sustain and support us. We tend to take them for granted.

And then when life challenges us, we’re not thankful. Obviously, we’re not. Nobody likes to feel challenged. We don’t like to be stretched. We want to carry on.

But when we’re challenged is when it’s really good to practice being thankful such that it becomes a habit that we continue even when there is no challenge. Because all of us have things in our lives for which we can be thankful.

It’s not easy for Tony or I at the moment, as for thousands of others in similar circumstances. However, we’re thankful for each other. We’re thankful for the humour that pops out at unexpected times. We’re thankful for the support of family and friends and for the silence sometimes when there are no words and that doesn’t need to be any words.

Being able to appreciate the small things in life, the little things, is such an important tool to develop resilience. Because when we can appreciate the small things, we have less time to focus on what’s missing and more time to enjoy what’s present. What are you thankful for? What do you appreciate that you may take for granted? Is there something that has more relevance now in your life because you’ve been challenged or because something you aimed for didn’t work out?

When we’re thankful, we strengthen the energy within us. We strengthen acceptance of what is. And that gives us an inner foundation that sometimes is all we have to get through a day. And at other times, gives us a sense of joy for what we’re experiencing.