Saying Thank You

You know it’s funny that I should be the one writing this. You see, I’ve never considered myself a very religious man or even one who attends church, but there is one thing that I do know and that is that I have to say thank you to god (him or her) for making my days on this earth better. Especially since I’ve run across a string of bad luck lately. You see, I could be on drugs or alcohol, behind bars, suffer from a disability or be homeless. But I am none of these things. So I have to stay thank you lord or Allah or whatever you might happen to call your deity or spiritual being. I have to say thank you for being blessed to have lived the life I have lived. I may not have the things I wanted to have or done the things I wanted to do, I may never get them, but the one thing I do know is that things could have been worst. With that, I like to share an email I received that put things in perspective for me. These words are from the Lady Oprah herself. Enjoy:

Powerful Comment by Oprah
By Oprah Winfrey

I live in the space of thankfulness - and I have been rewarded a million times over for it. I started out giving thanks for small things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased. That's because what you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it. Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter what happened in my life.

"Say thank you!" Those words from my friend and mentor Maya Angelou turned my life around. One day about ten years ago, I was sitting in my bathroom with the door closed and the toilet lid down, booing and a hooing on the phone so uncontrollably that I was incoherent. "Stop it! Stop it right now and say thank you!" Maya chided. "But - you don't understand," I sobbed.

To this day, I can't remember what it was that had me so far gone, which only proves the point Maya was trying to make "I do understand," she told me. "I want to hear you say it now. Out loud "Thank you.'" Tentatively, I repeated it: "Thank you - but what am I saying thank you for?"

"You're saying thank you," Maya said, "because your faith is so strong that you don't doubt that whatever the problem, you'll get through it. You're saying thank you because you know that even in the eye of the storm, God has put a rainbow in the clouds. You're saying thank you because you know there's no problem created that can compare to the Creator of all things. "Say thank you!"

So I did - and still do. Only now I do it every day. I kept a gratitude journal! , as Sarah Ban Breathnach suggests in Simple Abundance, list at least five things that I'm grateful for. My list includes small pleasures: the feel of Kentucky bluegrass under my feet (like damp silk); a walk in the woods with all nine of my dogs and my cocker spaniel Sophie trying to keep up; cooking fried green tomatoes with Stedman and eating them while they're hot; reading a good book and knowing another awaits. My thank-you list also includes things too important to take for granted: an "okay" mammogram, friends who love me, 25 years at the same job (and loving it more than the first day I started), a chance to share my vision for a better life, staying centered, having financial security. I won't kid you, having money for all the things I want is a blessing. But as I look back over my journals, which I've kept since I was 15 years old, 99 percent of what brought me real joy had nothing to do with money. (It had a lot to do with food, however.)

It's not easy being grateful all the time. But it's when you feel least thankful that you are most in need of what gratitude can give you: PERSPECTIVE. Just knowing you have that daily list to complete allows you to look at your day differently, with an awareness of every sweet gesture and kind thought passed your way. When you learn to say thank you, you see the world anew. And as Meister Eckhart so eloquently stated: "If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is "Thank you God," that would suffice. Have a safe and blessed day! GOD BLESS!

The Death of my Cable T.V.

Due to financial circumstances, the cable company has forced me to let go one of the things that has been a part of my life for most of my fifty-four years on this earth and that’s the television. Yes folks, my cable T.V. is dead. Now I don’t know what to do with myself. I don’t how I’m going to make it without the remote in my hands just clicking away. Click, click, click.

You cable, have been my constant companion (distraction) though out all the years and I don’t know what I would have done without you. With you gone, I may have to do something so inconceivable it boggles the mind. I may have to read a book. Yes, without you cable, I may have to clean my house or mow my lawn. I may have to do all the things I dreamed of doing without you by my side. I may even venture out into the blog-o-sphere, which I’ve been planning for some time, and start writing.

I’ll have fond memories of you and all the mindless times we spent together. All the years of watching the silly sitcoms and intense dramas, the heartbreaking and agonizing news shows, the sporting events and who could forget the countless Jerry Springer shows. Oh! And I also can’t forget the times when we switched over to the premium channels to see some gratuitous sex and violence.

Those were the days. Now that you’re gone I’ll have nothing to do (accept get the house in order, a business started, the blog launched and some schooling finished.) I’ll forever miss your click, click, click of the remote because it was you cable that gave me the immortal phrase “Just let me finish this movie and then I’ll get up.” It was you cable that made me get up in the middle of the night because you were still on calling me. It was you cable that help drain my checking account when I really couldn’t afford you anyway (who indeed let the pigs out).

You gave me my memories of the days gone by when Bogart and Cagney ruled and John Wayne was riding the western trail. Yes, it was you cable that kept me looking at the reruns of Law & Order, as if I never seen them before, and the new programs like the Closer, The Shield and the much watched Bill Maher (these shows, I’ll really miss). So, I’ll say goodbye as I watch them lower you that last six feet into the earth and cover you with dirt. I’ll stand weeping at your headstone and probably notice the green is greener, the sky is bluer and the air is sweet. I’ll miss you cable. Click, click, click.

NOT!!