Every year I feel like Thanksgiving gets lost a little more.  As holidays go, it’s not the most “fun.”

For people who like to eat, it is a big day for that.  But it generally involves 10 hours of preparation and cleanup, compared to an hour of eating enjoyment.

And there are no presents, or costumes, or really cool decorations.  No reason to empty your pockets at retail outlets with 24 hour access and half-price sales.

Maybe that’s why Thanksgiving’s getting lost.  It simply can’t compete with Christmas.

Two radio stations in my town went to 100% Christmas music the weekend after Halloween.  Because over 50% of their listeners surveyed wanted it that way.

As I searched Target for my favorite Halloween candy at 50% off, the store clerk next to me filled the shelf with Christmas decorations.

Thousands of retail employees will have their day interrupted today by the fact that they have to be at work tonight by 10 p.m., or midnight at the latest.

Thanksgiving, it seems, has become nothing more than the official kick-off to Christmas – the unofficial kick-off coming immediately after Halloween (and maybe ever earlier but for Halloween??!)

I’m not a big fan of the holiday myself, I’ll admit.  As a vegetarian who sees food as a necessity rather than a pleasure, the day’s activities never appealed to me much.

But, I would join a campaign to recreate the spirit of “thanks” and “giving.”  Because the activity of giving thanks is important enough to have its own day.

I envision a day when people send and/or deliver homemade cards and food to everyone they can think of who has given them any reason to be thankful.  When we all take a moment to say or write out our appreciation for all things big and small.

I see glimmers of hope.  Maybe Thanksgiving can be found again.  I like the Target employee who started the petition asking his store to reconsider opening at midnight.

I like Nordstrom’s clearly distinguishing itself when it posted signs saying it would celebrate Thanksgiving first, and then deck the halls for Christmas.

In the spirit of being the change I want to see in the world, I vow to make Thanksgiving different for my family, friends and acquaintances next year.

Because I admit, I don’t remember what anyone gave me for Christmas or my birthday last year.

But I remember that my mom and niece were healthy and wealthy enough to travel to my house and spend Grandparents’ Day at my kids’ school.

I remember having a friend who took time out of her busy day to listen, understand, and just be there when I was overwhelmed by a life challenge.

I remember my business coach taking time to care about my personal life ~ at no extra charge!

And my 3-year-old, who routinely wakes up too early in the morning and comes down to snuggle on my back while I work.  I never thought anything of it until one morning when I wasn’t wearing my normal fleece nightshirt.  “I need your warm snuggly shirt mommy,” he said.

I’ll always remember what a difference something as simple as my shirt made to him.  And how I feel about having the privilege of giving him that feeling.

Family and friends who are always there for me.  Always.  Kids who teach me lessons every day, and who bring tears of joy to my eyes in the simplest moments.  I could go on all day.

Like Mary J. Blige said this morning at the Thanksgiving Day parade when asked what she was thankful for — “I’m thankful.  I’m just thankful.”  Amen, Mary J., me too!

I hope you are enjoying this Thanksgiving Day.  I challenge you to take at least 15 minutes today to just be thankful.  And to be conscious of everything you do – everyday.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised about how much thanks there is out there that’s worth giving.

Thank YOU for reading.

JENNIFER HERNDON is a work at home mom with three fabulous kids, ages 3, 4 and 7. She has been enjoying the time freedom and financial benefits of working at home for over 13 years. Jennifer’s passion is empowering others to personal and business success through a positive mindset and consistent action.

Jennifer credits the turn-around in her online business to Jim Rohn’s One Year Success Plan, the perfect tool for planning a successful life. Here’s your chance to be inspired and guided daily by the world’s greatest business philosopher. Create your future with Jim Rohn’s One Year Success Plan and start improving your life and your business today!

My kids and I left the house about 9:30 this morning.  It was a beautiful 70 degree day and we had great plans.

As we pulled out the driveway and started up the street, I saw that my neighbor two houses down had a yard completely full of stuff.  His stuff.  Apparently the mortgage company had moved everything his family had on to his front yard and changed the locks.

I live in a nice neighborhood.  Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen a view of all of a neighbor’s possessions on the front yard.  Times are hard for a lot of people.

But today it struck me really differently than it has in the past.  I’ve been doing a lot of work on the practice of gratitude, and on changing the way I judge people.

Judging others as not as good as me in some way has been a lifelong habit (I’m embarrassed to admit).  It’s not an easy one to break.

But I feel like I made a real breakthrough today.  My initial reaction when I observed my neighbor’s plight was to feel really blessed to have what I have.

I spend a lot of time giving gratitude for the people in my life.  For all things “non-physical.”  But giving gratitude for my “stuff” feels like it places too much emphasis on material wealth.  Today, I gave gratitude for my stuff.  Lots of gratitude.

In previous days, I would have thought something like -  “how much of a pathetic loser can you be to go from a big house in a nice neighborhood to THAT?”  Today,  I felt true compassion for my neighbor.  I don’t know him or his family.  But combined with my gratitude were great feelings of sadness and empathy for him.  “But for the grace of God . . .” type feelings.  I wanted there to be something I could do to help.

While I am happy that these are my genuine reactions, I’ve got to admit, it’s hard.  What happened just two doors down has bothered me all day.  Just after 9:30 tonight the last caravan of cars and trucks full of stuff pulled away from his house.  It took over 12 hours to clean off his front yard.

And all the while I was spending a terrific day with my kids, topped off with ice cream to end our trip and a good workout at the gym for my peace of mind.  Truly I am blessed.  And, no matter what he’s done to “deserve it,” truly I hurt for my neighbor.

It was easier when I could just brush it off as something that would never happen to me.  When I could dismiss someone in that situation as an idiot, or something equally as derogatory.

I’ve always taught people that giving gratitude is “easy.”  Today, I’m not so sure.  Sometimes part of realizing how great your life is brings into sharp focus how tough someone else has it.  That can be really uncomfortable.

As is often the case, the easy path is not the right path.  Sometimes giving gratitude is hard.  But it is always right.  And the few who follow it will always live better.

JENNIFER HERNDON is a work at  home mom with three fabulous kids.  She has been enjoying the time freedom and financial benefits of working at home for over 12 years.  Jennifer’s passion is empowering others to personal and business success through a positive mindset and consistent action.

Want to learn more about the joys of giving gratitude?  Claim your free copy of Jennifer’s mini-course, Seven Simple Success Steps, and start your life on the right path today.

I have had a rough week. I lost my cell phone. I never imagined how inconvenient that would be. And I’m double mad about it because I’m 99% sure it’s somewhere in my house.

I’ve been trying to feel grateful for the fact that my house is big enough that I can search it for four days without finding my phone. But, it’s been frustrating.

I’ve wasted a lot of time obsessively looking for my phone. And, I get a lot of work done in the car on my phone, so I’m really feeling behind this week.

You can imagine how I struggled to maintain my positive attitude when it took me the good part of the day to get a new phone. I’ll spare you the details, but I will share that it was my good fortune to be needing a new phone at a time when my service provider’s entire network was down for seven hours.

I, and my three tired toddlers, had been waiting in the store (for the third time today) for about 45 minutes when it happened. You see, I had been looking for the lesson in my predicament, as I always do. What greater benefit was going to come from my adversity here?

I was starting to think I’d finally been proven wrong. Maybe the only purpose behind my experience here was to torture me.

Just then, three people walked into the store together. The very nice and patient employee behind the counter was helping a couple with a new phone. He explained to the newcomers that he would be with them just as soon as he helped me.

Loudly and with profanity, the young man demanded that he was next. Although obviously I had been in the store longer than he had, he reasoned that he was in line and I wasn’t. It was a small store. Clearly I was just hanging out, trying to keep my kids from destroying the place, and waiting.

For a moment, my reaction was to walk up to the guy and punch him for being such an idiot. But then I thought to myself, “wow, what kind of a life must this guy have?” How unhappy must he be? And why? What’s going on or has gone on with him to make him so abrasive and uncaring? He could really use some of my personal development training, I thought.

This guy made me feel grateful that I have a good life. And that, although I work daily on self improvement, my “self” is pretty good.

Sometimes we’re so busy trying to improve ourselves that we forget to take time out to pat ourselves on the back. It’s important to give yourself credit for being a good person. I rarely do this. I’m pretty hard on myself. I think most of us are.

If I hadn’t ended up in that store, I wouldn’t have encountered this poor guy, and wouldn’t have taken the time out today to realize that my “self” is pretty good just the way it is. Another thing to be grateful for.

JENNIFER HERNDON works at home with her kids. She has been enjoying the time freedom and financial benefits of home business ownership for over 11 years. Jennifer’s passion is empowering you to achieve success through a positive mental attitude and consistent action. Discover the Seven Simple Success Steps today for free in Jennifer’s new mini-course.

amoxil buy size-medium wp-image-284″ title=”gratitude-rock” src=”http://www.jenniferherndon.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/gratitude-rock-300×225.jpg” alt=”gratitude-rock” width=”300″ height=”225″ />Gratitude is great.  Most people completely underestimate the power of it.  Not purchase propecia online me.  I start everyday thinking about all the things in my life that are great.  A lot of times it’s the same things.  But I always try to put a new twist on why levitra on line I’m grateful.

I always start with my kids.  Not consciously, but because I think about my kids all the time.  Instead of just being grateful for their existence, I think about what they’ve done the previous day.  Maybe I’m grateful that my 2-year-old walked on the balance beam all by himself.  Because there was a time no one was sure he’d walk at all.

Gratitude comes pretty easily and naturally to me.  Like most things, you get better at it with practice.  And, I happen to have a lot to be grateful for.

Last buy online amoxil week, however, I found myself doubting just how good I am at this gratitude thing.

I got something in my eyes while I was outside gardening.  No big deal.  Until three days later when I could barely see and my eyes burned so bad I couldn’t open them.

Let’s see . . . I spend 4-5 hours a day on my computer.  I spend a good part of my day driving my kids to their activities, and returning all my phone calls as I drive.  At night, I drive to the gym for a stress-relieving workout.

All of these things were suddenly really hard, if not impossible.  For a fleeting moment I actually thought this would be okay.  I could just take a little time off.  Watch some mindless tv, get caught up on my reading.  I laughed at myself when I realized that I contemplated doing these things before it occured to me that I’d need my eyes!

As you probably guessed, I’ve spent a lot generic amoxil of time giving gratitude for my eyesight over the last few days.  This is not the first time I’ve given buy amoxil gratitude for something we tend to take for granted everyday.  I often appreciate that I have the ability to read something, to walk somewhere, to live in freedom.

But I must admit, I have a new appreciation for my vision.  And it makes me wonder, can I ever really be grateful for the ability to walk without knowing what it is not to be able to walk?  I mean, of course, I can say the words, but am I fooling myself into thinking that I’m really having gratitude, and even know how to be grateful, for things I’ve never been without?

I don’t have an answer to this today.  But it has called to my mind the fact that you shouldn’t judge a man unless you’ve walked a mile in his shoes.  Which is a different lesson, I realize.  But it’s always worth remembering that truly you don’t know why anyone does or doesn’t do anything unless you’re that person.  Which is much easier to say than it is to put into practice in our daily lives.

JENNIFER HERNDON works at home online ampicillin with her kids.  She has been enjoying the time freedom and financial rewards of working at home for over 11 years.  Jennifer’s passion is empowering you to achieve success through a positive mindset and consistent action.  Discover the Seven Simple Success Steps for free in Jennifer’s new mini-course.