thank you: oprah winfrey

THANK YOU

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 ahooing 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, listing 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, 15 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 per cent 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."