Thanksgiving Archives — SMART Living 365

10 Of My Favorite Gratitude Quotes and Why They Matter

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Thankful

I doubt it is a surprise to many of you that one of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving. But once the official day is over, it’s far too easy for us to let it slip away and get busy preparing for the slew of holidays to come. Making matters worse are all the retailers and advertising companies doing their best to sell us things for others and ourselves. That is why I decided this year to spend a little more time focusing on what Thanksgiving means to me on the day and week after. And what better way than by sharing the SMART words of many of my favorite writers and speakers?

With that in mind, here are ten quotes from my collection that I believe have the ability to help me the most.

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Uncovering Five Myths that Keep Us From Living A Thankful Life

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Thankful

This week Thom and I are celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with friends in Baja Mexico. And because I have over 35o blog posts here on the site and many new subscribers, I decided to pick one of my favorite posts that I wrote about gratitude in the past and repost it. I sincerely hope that you enjoy the reminders it contains. I also want to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read my blog and stay in touch with me. I am grateful for the opportunity to connect with you all on a regular basis, and together, I hope we will all continue to live happy and SMART 365.

Did you know that some people believe it is impossible to live thankfully and gratefully on a regular basis? Are you one of them? What catches my interest most of all is how the reasoning to avoid gratitude is so similar to those who likewise sidestep feeling happy on a regular basis. That led me to investigate some of the more common myths that exist for happiness—and observe at how those same myths apply to living thankfully 365. [Read more…]

30 Inspiring Movies I Am Grateful For

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Meaningful, Thankful

Every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas I force Thom (my husband) to sit with me and watch the most corny holiday movies imaginable on television. Yes I confess, I love the sweet, sappy and heart-tugging stories that cover the airwaves during the month of December. And on this, the final couple of days of my 2014 Third Annual Gratitude Challenge, I took the time to research several of my favorite movies from the past that generate a feeling of thankgiving within me. Perhaps if I can find these on cable, Thom will be saved from what shows up on the Lifetime or Hallmark Channel in the next couple of weeks? [Read more…]

Five Myths Of A Thankful Life

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Meaningful, Rightsized, Thankful

Grateful Me = Happy Me!

Last week my post talked about three challenges that I think stand in the way of many of us living gratefully each and every day. What occurred to me from some of the comments and other conversations I’ve had during the week is that there are a number of people who aren’t convinced that we should live either gratefully or happy every single day anyway. What’s interesting to me after all the research I’ve done over the years about creating happiness, is how closely the reasoning to avoid gratitude on a daily basis appears the same. That led me to explore some of the more common myths that exist for happiness—and observe at how those same myths apply to living thankfully 365. [Read more…]

Three Blocks That Keep Us From Living A Happy & Grateful Life

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Meaningful, Thankful

Gratitude is the key!

Those of you who may be new to this blog might be unaware that the “T” in the acronym SMART stands for thankful. I included it precisely because I know without a doubt that the practice of gratitude and thankfulness is essential to a happy, fulfilled and content life. At the same time I am also aware that just about every person I know and every blog I read with a focus on happiness, simple living and minimalism reports that a fundamental concept to the philosophy is appreciating what you have right now (in other words, “gratitude.”) What I find a bit surprising is that even though so many of us admit that it is important, something holds us back from the actual practice of it on a daily basis. Could it be possible that practicing thankfulness every day and making thanks living a habit, is the key to creating both a great minimalist lifestyle and a happy life? [Read more…]

Fifty Things I’m Grateful for Today

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Meaningful, Thankful

In scouring the Internet for the blog post links listed below I came across one that very simply listed 50 things they were grateful for in their lives. What a GREAT idea! If you believe the concept that what we think about grows, what we dwell upon we become, you might want to try it yourself. (If you want to go directly to this week’s gratitude links—scroll down to the bottom of this post)

So, here are 50 things I’m grateful for in my life right now: [Read more…]

The Second Annual SMART Living 30-Day Gratitude Challenge-2013

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Meaningful, Thankful

From My Renewed Mind.com

Most of us know that one of the best ways to live a SMART, happy and fulfilled life is to practice gratitude on a regular basis. As Mathew Henry said, “Thanksgiving is good, but Thanks Living is better.” Unfortunately, if you’re anything like me it’s far too easy to get stuck in our routines or troubles and let the doing of it slip our mind on a daily basis. That’s why for the second year in a row I am challenging myself to highlight aspects of “Thanksgiving” here on my blog in a way that keeps much of my focus and attention on both the feeling and expression of gratitude every day throughout the month. And hopefully, just like last year, you will be inspired enough to join me and “share the gratitude” in any way that you can. [Read more…]

Lessons From Gratitude–Day 22 of the SMART Living 30-Day Gratitude Challenge

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Meaningful, Thankful

At the beginning of November I challenged myself to a 30-Day Gratitude Challenge. I knew that it would add extra work to my already hectic schedule. But I also knew that the timing was good. November is one of my favorite months AND Thanksgiving was right around the corner. Plus, everywhere I went people were talking about the coming U.S. elections. And regardless of who they hoped would win—there seemed to be a lot of fear, anger and worry associated with the process. Hurricane Sandy was also looming on the horizon. I knew I needed to take the focus off those things outside myself and place them firmly on the good that I have in my day-to-day life. Hence, the gratitude challenge was born. [Read more…]

Three Simple Ways to Practice Thanksgiving 365

By Kathy Gottberg
Filed under: Aware, Meaningful, Thankful

One of the shortest and sweetest paths to a happy and fulfilled life is the daily practice of giving thanks. From one perspective, no other single spiritual practice is more universally accepted than the idea of being consistently grateful. Not only is gratitude a fundamental element in most spiritual traditions, it is also an ongoing, reoccurring theme in most self-help, inspirational and motivationally focused books on the market. Even science is jumping on the bandwagon and has begun to study the practice of gratitude as a way to increase the health and quality of a person’s life on many levels. Simply put, being thankful 365 is the most important activity anyone can practice, at any stage of life, to create a happy, healthy and contented life.

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