Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance,
chaos to order, confusion to 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.
Melody Beattie,
Quoted in “Simple Abundance”, by Sarah Ban Breathnach

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it’s a whole day devoted entirely to saying thank you. Allowing ourselves the opportunity to feel deep gratitude for what we have and are at this moment brings a sense of peace and contentment that we will never find in food, drink, material things or even in other people. Being thankful and feeling true gratitude for our lives RIGHT NOW is a choice that we get to make inside of us and contrary to common belief, it is NOT based on anything or anyone around us. We can choose gratitude and thanksgiving anytime we want, in any situation and today is the perfect opportunity for that to be our focus.

Don’t let your day be over shadowed with fear of food. A lot of time, effort, love and tradition has gone into the meals we will enjoy with our family and friends today. Today’s meal is celebration of thanks and NO ONE BECAME OVERWEIGHT FROM EATING ONE HOLIDAY MEAL, so savor it, enjoy it and once you’ve finished your plate move on to spending the rest of the time focusing on family and friends. The feelings we have of gratitude and thankfulness are personal to each of us, but they shine through us very, very brightly in the form of JOY. So relax, choose your most favorite holiday foods, eat until you’re pleasantly satisfied and spend the rest of the day letting your JOY shine for all of your family and friends to share!!!

On a personal note….

As always, but this year especially, I am grateful to all of you…..the readers, who chose to read my blog and the Weight Watchers members who have chosen to attend my WW meetings and me as their Weight Watchers Leader. After 11 years of leading WW meetings part time and holding down a full time real estate career in addition, I decided to follow my true passion and go to work for WW full time. It was a scary choice because it meant big changes for my family financially, but as Darin, my husband, was so adamant about, doing what I do at WW and writing this blog makes me HAPPY. I feel like in some way it’s what I am MEANT to do. THANK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF ME! Thank you for encouraging me to write more blogs and lead more meetings and for participating in MY life as much as I am in yours. I am so very, very grateful!