“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
-William Arthur Ward.

The season of Thanksgiving is a blessed opportunity to step back and reflect on the people in our lives, the love of family and friends, the abundance we’re surrounded with.

It is a time to quiet the mind, to look closely at our life through the lens of appreciation, to open our eyes to behold the Divine in the beauty of His creation, in each noble aspiration, and in the silent depth of our soul.

Our hearts naturally turn to the Divine in gratitude when a prayer is answered and a wish is fulfilled. However, our ability to appreciate God’s world need not be dependent on outer circumstances, nor our happiness conditioned by externals. How much sweeter and more personal would that relationship become with the daily practice of thankfulness, from the habit of focusing on and acknowledging the good in our lives?

Meister Eckhardt wrote, “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is ‘Thank you,’ it will be enough.”

What are you grateful for?

Hundreds of things go right for you every day, from the moment you wake up to the moment you put your head on your pillow to sleep at night. Through some magic you don’t fully comprehend, and though you’ve been unconscious for many hours while asleep, you realize that you’re still breathing and your heart is still beating.

Your eyes register an array of colors through nerves that you don’t control. You can see! You smell, you hear, you move, and you feel, interesting gifts that you don’t really pay much attention to but that are there courtesy of a Higher Power.

It’s easy to be grateful when life is good, when everything is going your way, when you are surrounded by loving family and friends, when you have good health and abundance all around you. It’s also easy to take those things for granted and live from a place where you feel the world owes you.

The challenge is when there is an unexpected disruption in your life because inevitably there will be instances that occur that may trigger you—unforeseen circumstances and upsets that cross your path; health and relationships that challenge you. Can you be grateful for the bad, the good, and the small stuff?

You have a choice. You can choose to see what happens to you as a curse or a blessing. You can choose to blame others, or you can choose to see the role you played in bringing about the circumstances. You can live in regret for things that occurred to set you back, or you can see them as blessings in disguise that forced you to look at your life with new eyes and see what an opportunity this is!

You see, you always have a choice.

And if you’re not careful, little moments will pass you by that could have been some of the richest experiences of your life.

Wake up . . .
Life is waiting for you to show up.

Take each person and experience that shows up in your life as a guide from beyond because each has something to teach you and help you grow.

And this I know for sure!

*Above is an excerpt from my latest book, Gold in the Cracks: Move from Shattered to Whole and Reveal Your Light
© Rani St. Pucchi, 2019

Rani St. Pucchi is an award-winning Couture Fashion Designer, Style & Image Consultant, and a certified Life Coach. She is a Bestselling Author, an Inspirational Speaker, and a Success Coach and Trainer. Her TEDx talk: Is Your Body Image Holding You Back? has received worldwide acclaim. Rani’s#1 International Bestselling Books, Your Body, Your Style: Simple Tips on Dressing to Flatter Your Body Type ; The SoulMate Checklist: Keys to Finding Your Perfect Partner; Your Bridal Style: Everything You Need to Know to Design the Wedding of Your Dreams; and Gold in the Cracks: Move from Shattered to Whole and Reveal Your Light are available on Amazon and at Barnes & Nobles.
For more information on Rani please visit www.ranistpucchi.com