Thanksgiving is the one day set aside each year specifically to show gratitude. Sometimes that’s not the easiest thing to do. In what have been trying times for many people, Thanksgiving is an opportunity to count one’s blessings, as they say. Studies have shown that giving thanks is the best remedy for all that ails you. However when we are at our lowest, finding the attitude of gratitude can be a difficult task.

This is where I find myself this year, I’m grateful for all the lessons of the last year, while I look forward to 2017 in a way that I hadn’t thought possible. I suspect I’m not alone on this one. Today I’m taking the time to reflect on those lessons, the people in and out of my life and the amazing opportunities that have presented themselves to me in the future.

I’m grateful for my husband, my rock for the last two decades. I have a large family having dinner together in Pennsylvania today, I’m thankful my sister could be there with them to enjoy this day. I’m so very thankful to our good friends who have opened their home to us for a Thanksgiving meal. My life would be incomplete without my puppy and my cats. Shiloh was the needed piece to put our little family puzzle together. 2016 isn’t over yet, however I’ve managed to stay out of the hospital thus far, no surgeries planned, so I’m more than thankful for that. I need to remind myself to do this reality check more often, as it probably would ward off more stress.

When we get frustrated it’s easy to forget just how blessed we really are, life can be difficult. Sometimes unbearable. It’s those times that we can find peace by giving Thanks. That’s not just happy talk either, Forbes created a list of all the benefits of being Thankful.

1. Gratitude opens the door to more relationships.
2. Gratitude improves physical health.
3. Gratitude improves psychological health.
4. Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression.
5. Grateful people sleep better.
6. Gratitude improves self-esteem.
7. Gratitude increases mental strength.

Just the act of being grateful is good for you, now that’s a reason to give thanks!