Thanksgiving celebrations are happening this week in the United States, so it´s a great occasion to bring up the topic of gratitude again.

I´m saying "bring it up again" because we´ve touched on this topic several times already on this blog, as it couldn´t be any other way. Because gratitude is a personal development tool that´s as simple as it is powerful; that´s why I recommend it as one of the essential apps we can get "installed" in our particular hard drive.

Gratitude is a muscle that needs to be exercised every day if possible, and that requires a conscious effort to focus attention on the positive and helpful side in each situation. There may be moments, especially at the beginning, when it may be a bit hard (or even very hard) for us to find things to be grateful for, but the key is to keep looking and remember that there´s always, always, ALWAYS something, no matter how small and insignificant it may seem to us.

Or maybe the gift of the day comes in the form of teaching disguised as a challenge or difficulty, and it takes us a while to realize that. In any case, progressively, with time, patience and a lot of practice, more and more reasons to be thankful will appear, and we will feel more and more fortunate.

When life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate.
And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow.

Shauna Niequist

Ready to start? It doesn´t have to be a very elaborate ritual; it may be as simple as asking yourself every night before bed, like I ask my daughters:what are grateful for today?

And here in this picture you can see my answer for today: I´m thankful for these three young ladies: