Blogging Your Blessings

Muchas Gracias I learned from my globetrotting friend, Santosh that one of the nicest things a traveller can do is to learn how to say the basics in the language of the locals. He stressed that saying THANK YOU is the MOST important word of all.  His guide to global gratitude is below: Czech: Děkuji Danish: Tak Dutch: Dank u Estonian: Tänan teid Filipino: Salamat Finnish: Kiitos French: Merci Gaelic: Go raibh maith agat German: Danke Hungarian: Köszönöm Indonesian: Terima kasih Italian: Grazie Japanese: Arigato Latvian: Paldies Norwegian: Takk Polish: Dziękuję Portuguese: Obrigado Romanian: Mulţumesc Spanish: Gracias Swahili: Asante Swedish: Tack Vietnamese: Cảm ơn bạn Welsh: Diolch yn fawr

NFL player James Jones knows it’s better to give than to receive “Being homeless made me a better man,” says James Jones, wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders since 2014. “And while I wouldn’t wish anyone to go through that, I wouldn’t change anything as far as how I grew up.” Having slept in shelters and on park benches for the first fifteen years of his life, Jones’ success as an athlete defies stereotypes about homelessness and poverty. He has taken his challenging experiences to heart. Since being drafted to the NFL in 2007, he has volunteered for many community organizations, and in 2008, started his own with his wife Tamika. The LoveJones4Kids foundation provides funding for school supplies, football camps, and pep talks to underprivileged children, many of them living in the same conditions that Jones did growing up. “People are used to hearing about a homeless person or kid and don’t think it’s possible to be a professional football player. But down on your lu

Power Thoughts: A Thankful Way of Life Gratitude and esteem are good foundations of affection. —Jane Austen ‘Enough’ is a feast. —Buddhist Proverb When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive—to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. —Marcus Aurelius I have found that worry and irritation vanish the moment when I open my mind to the many blessing that I possess. —Dale Carnegie  It is impossible to feel grateful and depressed in the same moment. —Naomi Williams

You're seen those bumper stickers, the ones encouraging you to commit “random acts of kindness?”  What they can’t tell you in that little space is how performing those acts can be a way of transforming yourself. When you begin to focus on extending kindness toward others, you’ll feel more kindness coming toward you. Not only will you make someone else’s day better, you’ll be surprised at how well yours improves. It’s rather like the “secret Santa” gift exchange that many offices and families adopt during the weeks leading up to Christmas. There is delight when you do something for another while keeping your identity a secret. When you watch a person receiving a surprise gift, you see their face change, the eyes open wide with delight, a smile bursting into a grin, and laughter erupting. They appear to feel sheer joy at the unexpected. The old adage is true: “It is in giving that we receive.” The other part of the quote, which is by a San Francisco writer named Anne Herbert, is oft

Write Letters and Send Postcards The things that make me the happiest have an emotional and physical effect.  And even more so when you do something for someone else.  One of the most lasting of these things is a personal letter. Being born in the transitional time between letters and computers, many people in my generation have already shunned snail mail as a way to communicate. This makes them rare, but a very inexpensive surprise. My grandmother was one of seven children, and they communicated with a round-robin letter. From mailbox to mailbox, they would add an update on their life and send it around to the next sibling. She taught me that letters are a valuable form of communication, something she’s emphasized as her memory slowly fades. I got into the habit of writing letters and during the times where I was most stressed, a paper due, a newspaper deadline, or turmoil, I would write a letter. Letters live somewhere between thoughts and stories. They are a confidant and a

Keep a compact reusable bag in your purse for those spur-of-the-moment purchases Refuse a plastic bag for five items or less Fit purchases from different stores into the same bag wherever possible. There’s no reason to have eight shopping bags with only one item in each. Put your cloth bags back in your car as soon as you’re done unloading groceries. There’s less chance of forgetting them at home that way (and you’ll be one step closer to using them!). Keep them on the front seat, rather than in the trunk. If you see them, you’ll be far less likely to forget them.