Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you and to
give thanks continuously. I read this somewhere last night and I think it’s such a great
idea. So some days are just great, things go as planned or even better and you bounce
from meetings to tasks to your private life and you feel wonderful on the inside. Then
there are other days, days when you feel low, you don’t feel much motivated and all your
plans go wrong. I’m sure you’ve been there. When something important, unexpectedly goes
wrong and you get that sinking feeling in your stomach, has that happened with you?
Or when you feel sorry for yourself and honestly just go back to bed and to sleep again. May
be the simplest and certainly one of the most effective ways to turn such a day, week or
month around into something more positive better is, in my experience to turn your focus
to gratitude, which means thankfulness. Because for me even if things look tough today or
for the next three or six months, I can always find something or several things to feel very
grateful for about my life. So today on the session on Skillopedia, let’s make it a
bit personal as I would like to share small list of ten simple, fundamental things that
I feel grateful for. I thought a list like this one, could be helpful, both for you and
for me. So let’s get started with my list of ten simple things that I am grateful for.
So the first thing I am grateful for is, a roof over my head and a warm home. So live
in a cold place where the winters are cold and snowy and the fall and even spring can
be sometimes rainy. So I often return to this one thing that I am extremely grateful for.
The same way you are sitting somewhere and watching this video you most likely have a
house or a room where you live and that protects you from either the cold or a rainy weather.
That’s quite a reason to be thankful for, isn’t it? And if your first thought was,
‘uh, everyone has a roof over their head, why should I be thankful for it?’ Well,
let me just remind you that there are some who don’t have one and I’ll leave you
with that thought there.
Well, the second on my list that I am grateful for is, plenty of drinkable water. I love
water and I drink plenty of everyday especially hot water every morning. It’s certainly
something that I take for granted from time to time. But it’s not something I should
take for granted. After all 780 million people lack access to safe drinking water. Just imagine
that feeling that you are so thirsty that your tongue cleaves to the roof of your mouth
and you don’t have a drop of water, has it ever happened with you, when you forgot
your water bottle and no safe drinking was available? It has happened with me, when I
once went to desert safari and nobody in my group was carrying a water bottle. So since
that day I’m genuinely thankful for drinking water. I hope you are too.
The third thing that I am so grateful for is, I don’t have to go hungry plus most
of the things I cook or eat are quite tasty and healthy and some days it’s simply wonderful.
Well for that you have to taste what I cook. So I have much to be grateful for when it
comes to food. So are you thankful for food as well? Isn’t that a food for thought?
The fourth thing on my list is that, I can enjoy the small and free pleasures of life,
‘a sunrise’, ‘a relaxing walk in the woods’, ‘a cool swim in the ocean’,
‘a crisp autumn day’ when the trees are filled with leaves of vibrant and spectacular
colors. The Sun warming my face after many days of the sky being filled with gray clouds
or may be a dash of rain during the dry week. These are the smallest but free pleasure of
life and in a way if you see, these are the small things which go unnoticed but are actually
very important to keep us happy.
Next what I am so thankful for is, the fact that I have access to the internet. So when
I was really young back in 90s and I wanted to learn about something then I had to go
ask someone, who may have been a hub of knowledge of ask my teacher or maybe I had to visit
the local library and there was about a magazine or a book about that topic. But things are
so different now, isn’t it? And even though internet is just a part of our everyday life,
it’s still amazing. I can learn about pretty much online. I can add new skills and habits
to my life to make it better and happier and more awesome with the help of what other people
share online. And there is the opportunity to connect with and get to know people from
all around the world. What a bliss that is. And yes you can watch my videos on the YouTube
using the internet, so aren’t you thankful for the internet?
And I’m indeed thankful for my friends and family for the love, support, kindness and
all the fun that they offer and they get to offer them.
Of course I am thankful for my health as well. I do not have the indestructible body of a
superwoman, but if I treat it well and plenty of sleep, work out and eat healthy then it
works really wonderfully well, almost all the time. Of course I get sick sometimes but
over all I have very, very much to be thankful for that I often take for granted about my
body and how it helps me to do things better, like see, listen, walk, write, hug, think
and experience the world every day, so we got to be thankful for our body as well.
I am genuinely thankful for the kindness of people I have never met before, like you all.
So every day I get kind and supportive emails and messages from people all around the world
that I have never met before. But who watch my vlogs and are encouraged and whenever you
write thank you to me in your comments telling me that, how my videos are helping you. That
makes my life happier and helps me get along when things are tough for me.
And I truly appreciate the simple kindness in the rest of my life too when people let
me skip ahead of them in the check-out line in the store when I have only few items and
they stay for few more seconds and hold up the door for me too, I genuinely thankful
for such kindness and I think we all should be.
Another thing that I am thankful for are, the set-backs that have formed me and made
me stronger. I’ve been really ill a few times in my life and these experiences have
made me stronger mentally and given me the gift of being very appreciative of modern
medicine and of my own body and taking good care of it. So yes this is another thing we
could be thankful about.
Lastly I am thankful for the fact that I’m alive. I have like everyone’s been in this
situations where an accident or being in the wrong place, just a few more seconds could
have meant that I would not have been here anymore. But I’m here now and that’s something
to thankful about. I have this moment, this day and if God is willing, many more days
still to experience and live my life. Isn’t it amazing to just be alive and definitely
we should be thankful for?
So in this session, you have a task, maybe not every item on my list works in your life,
then take what works from here and to create and add put together your own list and share
with me in the comments about the things that you are thankful for. So what do you feel
grateful for? Even when you might be going through a tough day or a tough time, can you
relate with anything on my list? Then don’t wait, make your own personal list of the things
that you are grateful for and leave it in the comments for me and for other viewers
to read and I’m also thankful that you clicked on this video, thanks again for watching,
see you soon, ba-bye