Thanksgiving Pt. 3

Finally the final post in the thanksgiving series. I know Thanksgiving (the Canadian one at least) has come and gone but hey- perhaps this will be a good reminder to be thankful all year round. And for all the Americans hopefully it will serve as a nice prequel to your own Thanksgiving celebrations.
 

I had a tough second year of university. Organic Chemistry can be a very humbling experience. That, combined with some other issues in my life, made it a very stressful year. It was all too easy to get sucked into a dark black hole of morose complaining and depression.

However I had a fantastic roommate. When our chaplain mentioned a story about an old Jewish man who daily made a practice of praying 100 thanksgivings, my roommate suggested we do this as well. We actually never made it to 100 a day. We started with 5 each and worked our way up to 20 each. It was a little difficult and some days I definitely didn’t feel like doing it. However my magnificent roommie always reminded and encouraged me and together we found the practice encouraging and uplifting. We recited our thankfulnesses twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays and found that we were happier on those days since the whole day we were looking for things to remember to be thankful for that night. I definitely think that is a lesson to remember and taking time to give thanks, be it scheduled or spontaneous, should be an important part of everyone’s life. So in honour of my fantastic roommie from second year and for the Thanksgiving holiday, here is a list of thankfulnesses I came up with.

1. Thankful for laughter and for good times with family

2. Thankful for good weather

3. Thankful for beautiful scenery- may I remind you that I spent most of Thanksgiving Day at Point Farms Provincial Park beach with my family.

4. Thankful for good food- yummy turkey, and stuffing, and gravy, and pumpkin pie!!!

5. Thankful for a marvelous trip to Sault Ste. Marie where I was able to reconnect with friends

6. Thankful for the fantastic things happening in my friends lives- weddings, birthdays, new relationships, new jobs, exciting opportunities, and more

7. Thankful for music- the kind I make and the kind I enjoy

8. Thankful for a supportive, loving family and a wonderful home

9. Thankful for good health and strength and the ability to do things like kayak, roll around in the sand and play Frisbee

10.Thankful for all the people that have touched my life- I may be terrible at keeping in touch but that doesn't mean I don't frequently think of them and how incredibly blessed I am to have known them.