Photo Credit: Click Here

Since today is Thanksgiving in the United States, my weekly gratitude post couldn’t have been more timely.  I hope you’ve been enjoying them. 

A couple of things I’m grateful for in my personal life:

1. The God-given gift of speaking and writing.  Each of these make my heart sing with gratitude, especially when the words are flowing easily and effortlessly.
2. Mom and Dad plus my siblings (Dawn, Michelle, Matt and their spouses) for their love and support.  They are all in great health for which I am thankful (including myself).
3. No matter what has happened, I’ve always had a roof over my head, a means of transportation (car) and food on the table.
4. The fact that I always have more than enough money available to me even during the tough times.  The universe has never failed to surprise me with a financial reward in the form of an unsolicited speaking engagement (they came to me) or a gift from a friend (i.e. treat me to dinner, etc).  Once in a while, I’ll get a check in the mail from a totally unexpected source.  This keeps me in a constant state of appreciation, reducing the level of worrying that I sometimes subject myself to.   
5. The people who have come into my life to encourage, inspire or teach me a lesson.  They include friends from church, the readers and subscribers at Adversity University as well as past, present and future clients, strangers, acquaintances and business associates.  I’ve learned something from all of them and I thank them for making an entrance into my life.
6. My newly formed mastermind group consisting of Myron Brown, Shelley Kimberly and Monica Taylor (who is now working for me as an independent contractor as an executive assistant).   Speaking of Monica, I wish to express heartfelt thanks for her guidance and solid backbone support while she helps me prepare for 2008 and beyond.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the incredible array of well-written, interesting articles that bound across the blogsphere.  Here are a handful for you to check out:  

• Want to find a way to figure out a way to weed out people who appear to be nice and friendly when you first meet them but down the road end up demoralizing and/or draining you?  Tim Ferris wrote a great article on how to do find out sooner rather than later:  ”How to Test Drive Friends and Irritate People.” 
• Have you ever been in a position where you struggled to make it in a certain profession where no one cared about who you were or did not give you the time of the day because you were not exceedingly beautiful, sexy, wealthy or popular?  Then someone comes along and helps you get to the next level and suddenly you’re popular and the very same people who once snubbed you are now clamoring for you?  You’ll be cheering for the main character who happens to be Colleen Wainwright, the author of “Don’t Call Us……. “   
• Just one day before Thanksgiving, I was scanning through my favorite blogs when I came upon Remarkablogger who listed a handful of sites that he recommended.  I wasn’t sure what to expect but let me tell you, I was stunned to come across Self Made Chick.  Here’s a single mom who once went hitchhiking across America and ended up becoming a successful online entrepreneur.  One of the things that struck me was her article on facing fear and biting the bullet with “How to Harness Your Fear to Fuel Success.”  I highly recommend you subscribe to her blog.  You’ll LOVE it.   

Let me shine the spotlight on those who generously took the art of pimping me to the next level:      

Joel, a band director from Texas, who is passionate about the field of education.  In ”Overcoming Adversity,” he not only mentioned this blog but he also added my RSS subscriber link at the end of the article to make it easy for his readers to subscribe to AU!   How generous is that?  Thanks Joel!

Another round of thanks goes to Corrine Edwards, an active contributor to the Adversity University community who maintains her own blog at Personal Growth with Corinne Edwards.  Even though I can’t hear podcasts, she was interviewed by Michelle Vandepas at Conscious Destiny! where she talked about me.  I have no earthly idea what she said but I can only imagine it was favorable! 

My new friend Patricia of Spiritual Journey of a Lightworker recently told her readers she enjoyed one of my gratitude posts.  From one lightworker to another, thank you.

Last but not least, I am comforted and empowered by the following quote by an unknown author:

Face any situation fearlessly once you make a decision and there is no situation to face, it falls away of its own weight.

If you liked this post and you want to be notified of the next one, subscribe via Email or Full Text RSS Feed. I would love to have you as part of the community!