In Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. Unlike the American tradition of remembering Pilgrims and settling in the New World, Canadians give thanks for a successful harvest. The harvest season falls earlier in Canada compared to the United States due to the simple fact that Canada is further north. In Cayman it is not celebrated on a particular day but is usually a religious day called Harvest Thanksgiving or Festival and is dependent upon which religious denomination or church you go to determine the Sunday.  However, anytime of the year is a good time to practice an attitude of gratitude.

William James, the father of physiology and philosophy said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.”

So many times people become discontent with their lives and surroundings and is it any wonder?  There is a whole industry set up to make us feel inadequate.  We are not thin enough, or not rich enough, or not hip enough because we are not buying the latest products on the market. The message rings loud and clear: We are not good enough!!

How many times have you found yourself saying, “If only _________ then I could be happy”. The problem is that if we get caught up in this way of thinking we will never be happy because there is always something more we will think we need to complete our lives.

Celebrated American writer, Paul Reid said, “Poverty is a state of mind often brought on by the neighbour’s new car.” In other words, when we see our friends and neighbours acquiring things, we often feel poor because we cannot afford these luxuries.  But, in reality we are not poverty stricken, we only think we are poor.  This state of mind is purely relative to whom you are comparing yourself .  If you were to change your thinking and look at the homeless, then you would realise how truly rich you are.  You have a roof over your head, and food on the table. Okay, so maybe it’s not your dream house and maybe you are eating peanut butter sandwiches and not caviar, but you are sheltered and fed.  Believe it or not, some people do not even have these basics.

Most people do not realise the benefits of gratitude. When we sit and think about all the things we want but don’t have, we set ourselves up in a downward spiral of disappointment and negative thinking which can lead to overwork, and depression. Gratitude, on the other hand, lifts our spirits and gives us a clearer focus on life as it really is.  We will be content with what we have and therefore our attitude will bring us a spirit of peace and contentment.

You may say to yourself, but I don’t have much!  Well then be thankful for the little things you do have.  Do you have a roof over your head?  Do you have someone who loves you?  Do you have someone you love?  Do you have food on your table? Do you have your health?  Do you have a job? Do you have a pillow to sleep on? Do you have a blanket to keep warm? Do you have your sanity?  These are little things but even the smallest things we can be thankful for.

Have you heard the saying, “If you haven’t all the things you want, at least be grateful for the things you don’t have that you wouldn’t want”? There is always something we can find to be grateful for.

I know this sounds simplistic and I know that there are always things that many of us truly need, but if we start changing our attitudes and develop an attitude of gratitude then we will be in a better position to allow our positive thoughts to direct us in a way in which we can achieve more.

Gratitude is the first step in achieving the things you want to achieve in life.  Viki King, a leading consultant to the entertainment industry said, “You won’t be happy with more until you’re happy with what you’ve got.”

Let us make every effort to get rid of these negative thoughts that hinder our life’s journey and learn to develop positive thoughts that will help us achieve our goals.

Don’t wait until Thursday November 24^th for Thanksgiving Day to be thankful.  Be grateful for what you have every day. That is not to say you mustn’t celebrate it. Instead, don’t just use it as merely a day of eating, partying and watching football. The day was to establish gratitude – to thank God.  Its meaning has slowly deteriorated, and is now almost completely lost under a cloud of media hype, sales pitches, marketing tactics and blitz commercialism. The pilgrims that first went to the USA, after reaping their first harvest in the fall of 1621, dedicated a day for thanking God for the bounty He had blessed them. Here in Cayman we can join our American friends on November 24^th and, even in these harder times, we really do have a lot to be grateful for.