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Greetings. As we approach the holiday season and especially my favorite time of the year, Thanksgiving, I thought I would invite you to reflect upon the importance of thanks. My hope is that you will find a way to cultivate a heart of gratitude.

I don’t know what words you would describe or define what being thankful means to you. I know that when I am thankful, I acknowledge that I have received a gift, I recognize the value of the gift, and I appreciate the intentions of the donor. The benefit, gift or personal gain for me might be material or emotional or spiritual. Being thankful means an acknowledgement of goodness in one’s life and recognizing that the source of this goodness comes or lies outside of the person. Someone or something outside of you just wants to give you a good gift.

So when we reflect upon 2014, I want you to think and remember what gift have you received this past year in which you do appreciate the person who has given it to you and you can acknowledge the intentions of the donor. For the sake of this blog, I want you to reflect upon gratitude in your spiritual, emotional, relational or health life.

How has your health been in 2014? I know, we all take our medical health for granted. We all assume that if we get some sleep, drink some fluids, eat some food, and do some exercise, we all just assume are health is going to be okay. We view our health and our bodies like a machine and we don’t think about it but just go about our routines just keeping our bodies going.

But as a therapist and also having worked in hospitals and being around nurses and medical doctors, taking our health for granted may not be our best strategy. The reality of life is that every day is a gamble and our health can be a gamble as we just assume our health is going to be okay. If you below forty and ready this, this may be your thinking. But if you are over forty, the reality of life is that you may eventually have to face some medical health challenge.

My hunch in 2014 is you may have known personally or read about someone who was not as fortunate as you who did experience some type of major medical illness, a need to be in the hospital, broken bones, under a doctor’s care, or just struggling with various medical pains or problems in their daily life. Many people are functioning each day trying to balance out their family and work schedules and also some medical health issues in their life.

So can you be thankful for 2014 for good health, being alive, being fit and not overweight, good teeth, eyes, ears, nose, throat, ability to breath, ability to walk with two legs and do many tasks in life with two arms and two hands? Can you look back over 2014 and state that you have a good heart, no brain damage, and all internal organs such as liver, lungs, colon, diabetes’s and blood pressure is under control?

Maybe you have had some medical or health scares this past year. Can you be thankful you made it through these various medical episodes and now you can look back and be grateful that you are doing so much better with your health? Or maybe you can look back over 2014 and you have started some new exercise or eating habits that is resulting in improved health and lose of weight or an overall feeling better about your health?

My hope and pray for all of us is that we are thankful for our health and thankful we are still alive and able to live another year. Invest in your health & be as medically healthy as you can be. Start making good habits and patterns regarding your eating, your exercise, staying on top of any medical problems and health issues. Be good to yourself by taking good care of your life and you will find that when you invest in your spiritual, emotional and relational health, your medical health will improve. Thanks for reading.