Thankful Thinking

I once heard someone ask Oprah Winfrey, "Do you pray?""Are you kidding?" the world's wealthiest woman replied.  "I walk around on my knees."Boy, that stuck with me.And it's in that spirit of grateful living that I ask you to take time this week, especially, to walk around on your knees.  To be fully conscious of gratitude.  To truly give thanks.I'll go first.I am so blessed to have smart, insightful, kind, sometimes obstinate, often shower-needy, perfectly imperfect teenagers - Munroe and Grace Woodward.  Even on the most difficult days, being their mother is my life's greatest gift.I, for one, am gratefully conscious that while there are 42.2 million Americans receiving food stamps, I can provide food for my family by the work that I do.I am thankful for the emergency room physician's assistant who capably, cleanly, neatly put five stitches in my lip last week after I caught a fast softball pitch right in the kisser.I appreciate my dear internist who removed the stitches - I think it hurt him more than it hurt me.Every day I speak with friends from Singapore to Rome.  How? I log in to Facebook.  And while it takes time and effort to be on Facebook, all relationships take time and effort. This is just a new way to do it. And I'm glad for it.I am routinely astonished that I learn something new every day.I love the friend I spoke with last night.  A little whacked out on morphine after surgery, she told me she loved me and was so happy.  It's my pleasure to tell her the same. [Not that she'll remember it this morning. But she knows.]I can watch a great movie like Crazy Heart in my own home, in front of a roaring fire, whenever I want.Great opportunities keep coming, like my new blog premiering at Psychology Today this week.Sometimes, after being out in the cold for a while, having central heat feels like the biggest luxury ever.The Circle of 12 brings joy to my heart.My work makes a difference.I know what you're thinking: "Nice sentiments. But so what?"Being in touch with all these wonderful, mundane, spectacular things gives me strength to muster the courage to handle the hard things.Because there are always hard things. And tough days. And challenges.That's life.That's happiness.And that's exactly what I'm most thankful for.