Being Thankful

Being Thankful
By Carin G Hansen

With all of the "crazy" that surrounds the holidays, beginning with Thanksgiving, the real meaning of these celebrations often is lost. Considering that many of you are also dealing with cancer, surgery, treatment, side-effects and general malaise - the thought of being thankful might leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

I thought it fitting this month as the United States focuses on Thanksgiving that I take the opportunity to give my thoughts on being thankful. You may not even be aware of it, but take a moment to ask yourself - have you gotten swallowed up in an entitlement mentality? Are you and I entitled to more than we have? We read in the Bible: " For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it". That means that everything we have ever had, have currently, or will ever have is a gift. Yes, we may work hard for it; we may suffer for it - but, it is still more than we had when we were born. It may sound too simplistic yet that is exactly where we can get tripped up in an entitlement mentality. When we consider that we were born with nothing and will leave with nothing, then we realize that we are not entitled to anything. We came empty-handed yet have been given much to fill our hands... much to be thankful for.

Most all of us have roofs over our heads, enough to eat, can pay most of our bills, and live in a nation where we have good healthcare facilities and treatment options available to us. It's easy to lose track of all of that in the day-to-day grind of surviving cancer and feel we deserve more than that. We don't. As humans we experience pain, illness, health, loss, gain, struggles and victories - the key is to ponder what we have despite our past, or current, experiences and realize that we have MUCH to be thankful for.

I attended a seminar some time ago about emotions and the definition they used for emotions was "energy in motion". I really like that definition because it means that we can change the motion of our energy. Did you know that our emotions follow the path of least resistance when responding to situations? This means that based on past experiences and responses to the same, or similar situations, we will respond to current situations. However, research shows that 21 days of practicing a different, healthier emotional response to these situations and the "path" along which the emotions used to travel from past experiences will begin to shrink. It is like a path around your local lake - if you, and everyone else, do not walk down that path during the summer time the weeds will soon begin to grow into the path and eventually completely cover it.

When we begin to respond with thankfulness and joy for what we have - our lives change. We find more things to be thankful for; we feel more fulfilled; we realize how blessed we are, and we have a new energy we thought we had lost forever.

If this is a time of plenty - be thankful and giving...

If this is a time of lean - be thankful and graciously let others bless you!

Carin Hansen has been helping women and men, of all ages, look their best through articles, blogs, books, seminars and workshops for much of her life. Because she interacts with many lives, in very personal ways, she has unique insights into the spiritual struggles both men and women alike face.

As a Christ follower and cancer survivor of 17 years, Carin is very aware that every day on earth is a gift from God - not to be wasted. Please visit Carin's website at http://www.bridges2beauty.net to ask for prayer. The resource page will link you to a variety of articles. You can also download a free PDF or purchase a hard copy of "A Woman's Cancer Journey Primer" while on her site.

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