Thursday is Thanksgiving in the U.S.  With Christmas Day and New Years it is one of only three days when almost all commercial and governmental operations are closed.  I especially like Thanksgiving because it is secular and everyone celebrates it.  Thanksgiving has a history  and all kinds of discussion about its origins, but it is similar to the harvest festivalsfound in many cultures.  We have a human need to give thanks for what we have been given.  In the modern U.S. version of Thanksgiving we focus on eating (with turkey as the centerpiece), parades, and (U.S. style) football games, but mostly family and giving thanks.This year I am delighted to be joining over 100 other “grateful souls” from Nepal to New Zealand, and Brussels to Boston with EpicChange in a worldwide outpouring of thanks: EpicThanks.  Personally I am thankful for:

  • My wonderful and supportive family.
  • That we have the resources to educate our children and nurture them with the understanding that they are global citizens. and should live with a spirit of ‘doing good’ and ‘giving back’ (which gratefully mine as teenagers now have).
  • Long time and new friends.
  • Work that (although as all ‘work’ can be is trying at times) nourishes me.
  • An amazing and expanding network of online and offline friends and colleagues all working to make this world a better place.

I hope you too will take time periodically to reflect upon the gifts in your life.  Wherever we are, whatever we do, and whatever our personal situations, we can all find so much to be thankful for.