In my “pursuit of happiness” journey, I have discovered and/or epiphanized (I know, it’s not a word but I like it) a few things.  One, I must define “happiness” for myself; no one can define it for me.  Two, my definition will not be the same as another person’s definition, and that is okay.  And three, my personal definition of happiness includes peace and contentment. I do not always have to feel joy to consider myself happy.

One of the quickest ways for me to get to peace and contentment is for me to feel gratitude and thankfulness. It is another “secret” to happiness.  And as we are in the  season of Thanksgiving, I thought I would take a moment a share some (there is no way that I could list them all; the post would go on forever) of the things that I am grateful for:

• I am grateful for a wonderful husband who is beyond 100% supportive of my efforts to discover and pursue what I was born to do.  Right now, we do not have a lot of money and Ramen and spaghetti are fast becoming dietary staples, but he does not complain. He is absolutely, totally awesome!
• I am grateful for my mommy, daddy, and sister who step in all of the time and give us a break from that Ramen and spaghetti.  They are 100% supportive of my pursuing my dreams and help out in all kinds of ways: financially, emotionally, mentally, spiritually.  I could NOT do this without them.
• I am grateful for my friends and family who are supportive; each in their own way.  I believe I heard Oprah say that you need different friends for different things and I am glad God has brought these different kinds of people into my life to help me and to inspire me:Cheri, Mel, Jamila, Joy, Ms. Griffin, Marian, Erica, Dr. Mc, Katie, Jessica and Vince, Marilyn, Mark, Marjie, Lucas…
• I am grateful for my little min pin, Bimmer [BEAM-er] who is by my side everyday I am in the office working on this thing I call my life.
• I am grateful for the book “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin that inspired me to pursue happiness in such systematic, almost academic, way. Some have said that this concept is an oxymoron.  But it works for her and it works for me.
• And finally,  I am grateful to all of you who read my musings and my rantings, also known as my thoughts.  I hope that in some teeny, tiny way, my writing about my experience is helping you on your journey.

My challenge is this: to remember that being grateful equals being happy.  And when I am feeling some kind of way about my life, I need to stop and think of what I am grateful for. I read this quote yesterday I was struck by the truth of it, in my life.

“Given the amount of unjust suffering and unhappiness in the world, I am deeply grateful for, sometimes even perplexed by, how much misery I have been spared.” – Dennis Prager

enjoy life…and Happy Thanksgiving!