100 Things to be Thankful For

The challenge is to write down 100 things that you are thankful for.  Can you come up with 100?  It's not as hard as it sounds. I'll help you find different places to look as well as different areas that maybe you haven't thought about.  When we walk through a difficult season it is more important than ever to remind ourselves of all the things we have to be thankful for.

Transcript

Hello, my name is Tiffany, and welcome to the podcast, Working on Amazing. This is a podcast where we talk about the work that it takes to rebuild an amazing life.

And I use that word rebuild because we are specifically designed for women who feel like they're starting over in the middle of their life. If that's you, first, I want to say I'm sorry. I know that feels itchy.

Not one part of it feels good when it feels like you're starting over again. But I'm here to tell you there is hope. It gets better, so, so, so much better.

You're not alone. You're actually in the right place. So welcome.

I'm so glad you're here. As we get down to today's episode, today is an episode that deals with the season we're in. So we're coming up on Thanksgiving.

So it would be crazy not to do a gratitude podcast. I have already done an episode about gratitude. But today is going to be a little bit different.

We're going to do gratitude times 100. Okay? So what does that mean?

I want you to come up with and write down the challenges to write down 100 things that you are thankful for. And that sounds like a big, audacious goal to sit down and write down 100 things. But it's actually very doable.

That's what the whole podcast is going to be about, is coming up with different areas that you can find things you're grateful for in. There are things to be grateful for everywhere. We've just got to train ourselves to start looking for them.

So that's what we're going to talk about today. And I want to see you walk in to the Thanksgiving holiday, just so grateful. Like, I've got a hundred things I'm grateful for.

Like, you're just gonna, you're gonna nail it, right? And I believe we should practice gratitude every day. Every day.

It should be a piece of our life, and our lifestyle, and how we live. But taking a big chunk right now, it's just gonna really help get you in this gratitude perspective. Feet first.

It's really gonna allow you to see how much you have to be grateful for. If you can write down a hundred things you're grateful for, you're gonna be like, whoa, I do have a lot to be grateful for. This is a great mental health exercise.

It's gonna help you really get into this holiday, and just feel better about even if you're in the darkest season of your life. It's a really good practice. I think especially if you're in a dark season, this is the thing you need to do.

And it sounds counter, because you don't feel like you have anything to be grateful for. You certainly don't feel good about anything. And doing this really, really helps.

It does. It's not gonna fix it, but it will help. So I want you to write down your list of a hundred things you're grateful for.

So whether you type it out, or you use a pen and paper and write it, I want you to number it. So you're like gratitude times a hundred, whatever you want to label your, I'm thankful for list.

And then number one, number two, number three, number the things you're grateful for. It's like counting your blessings. You're gonna count all the things you have to be grateful for, because you have so much to be grateful for.

You really do. So let's talk about it, and let's get into it. So you've got a list, you're gonna write.

So whether it's on your computer, or the pen and paper, number one. So let's go to the first section of the list. What are we gonna write first?

Well, what are the first things that come to mind when you say what you're grateful for? There's gonna be a big chunk of things that we say right off the bat, right?

They're generally our family, the fact that we have a roof over our head, and food to eat, right? So we can rattle off a few things really quick.

So I want those to be like the first five things you write down, are those first things that come to mind. Click, click, click, click. You know, my children, this, that, the other, right?

Write them down. Write it down. So I'm thankful for, and enlist each one, okay?

Individually, we're numbering our list. So I think, I estimate, I could be wrong. You could be plus or minus with my estimates.

But I estimate, off the bat, you can come up with five things that you're grateful for. Pretty quick, right? So the next category, I think we can get a pretty decent size chunk out of, and I want you to write down things that you're grateful for.

What kind of things do you have that you're grateful for? Well, we accumulate things as humans. Our house is full of things that we found that we like, that make us happy.

So what things in your house, what things do you keep around you that make you smile? It could be jewelry that you wear. For me, it's my bathtub.

I have a separate bathtub from the shower, and oh my word, I love it. It makes me happy. That's how I relax.

I take a bath. I like my bath. I'm grateful for my bath.

I'm grateful for all the things around my bath, like my bath salts and the candle and all that. So, I have a few things I could write there. Moving on, do you have something that is hanging on the wall?

Generally, the things we put on the wall, artwork, whatever, are things that make us smile. Maybe it's pictures of Finghamley. Maybe it's a quirky piece of art you found somewhere and you have a deep memory of.

What are the things that you have that make you smile? Is there something, I have this sculpture of a fish that my kid gave me, and I smile every time I see it. It's sitting on a table at the front door, but it just makes me smile.

And they told me why they got it. They were little. They were like five or six when they picked it out.

But they're like, you like the ocean, you like fish. And I'm like, you're right, I do. And, but it's just kind of a quirky sculpture of a fish, and it just makes you smile every time I see it.

So I'm grateful for that. But what else do you have? Do you have a favorite sweater, a favorite pair of jeans, a comfy pair of shoes?

Oh, those fuzzy socks. Let me tell you, I'm so grateful for fuzzy socks. What things do you have?

Do you have a favorite mug that you drink your coffee out of that makes you smile? Somebody special gave it to you, and you just smile when you see it, or it has a cute saying on it.

Look around your house and places that you frequent, like, my office, my desk, always had stuff that made me smile. I would put sentimental items and objects around to make me smile.

My car, I leave a note in there that was written, and it makes me smile. All kinds of things. What things think you smile?

What can you write on your list that you're grateful for? I think you can come up with 20 things. Of things that you've accumulated that make you smile when you walk around your house.

You're like, I am so glad I have that. That's a memory of a trip I went on. And when I look at that thing, I remember that, and that makes me smile.

Oh, this over here, this was my grandmother's. And that makes me smile, I remember her. What kind of things do you have?

Have you accumulated, have you filled your space with the things that make you smile? So, if we had about 20 things there, plus or minus, right? Next category, people.

People. So, probably in the very first category, when you wrote down just the things that come to the top of your head, there were some people probably in that category.

But these are the people, maybe they didn't come to your mind at first, but we're really grateful they were in our life. Maybe it was a teacher at school.

Maybe it was when you first started your career, that co-worker that took you under their wing and showed you the ropes. You know what I'm talking about? Maybe it was a good friend.

Maybe it's a friend that isn't in your life now. They were just there for a season, but you're so grateful they were there. Any person who's come into your life, that you're just really grateful for them.

I think people have such a strong impact on us. So I estimate that you can come up with five people that weren't in your original list, five people that you were grateful for.

You might be able to come up with probably more than that, but at least five that I'm so glad our lives intersected, even if they're not a main part of my life now.

But there are people that maybe I don't do life with on a regular basis, but as I look over my life as a whole on like, I am so glad this person has been in my life. I'm so grateful for that.

So write those people down, and take the time to say, I am thankful for that. I'm thankful for the impact that person had on my life. All right, next, your past.

What are you grateful for from your past? And this could be all kinds of things. It could be a trip you took in college.

I'm so glad I got to see the Grand Canyon. It could be something that you've done. I've had so many unusual jobs.

I feel like I've kind of had some odd and unusual jobs, but I look back and I'm really grateful for them. Even if it was a little bit quirky or whatever, I'm like, yeah, I did that. That was me.

That was kind of cool, right? So I could write down that I'm thankful that I had that job, that I went on that trip, that I got to see that thing. What, as you look back over your life, what are you grateful for?

I'm so grateful that as a family, when I was a young child, we took trips to Sanibel Island. I have so many fond memories of that. I'm so glad that's part of my story in my past, that those are idyllic memories in my head.

I'm grateful for that. Like as you look back over your past, what are you grateful for? I've had some jobs that have sent me on different trips and I'm like, that was kind of cool.

You know, I'm grateful for that. What, what are you grateful for? As you look back over your past, whether it's things you've seen, things you've done, places you've been, what are you grateful for?

What kind of makes you smile? As you look back over it as a whole, like, oh yeah, that's pretty cool. You know, or I'm just grateful for that.

That was a neat thing. So I think you could do 10, 10 things from your past that you're grateful for. So that should put us about 40 things so far, plus or minus in each category, but we're tracking it about 40, okay?

So our next category is nature. There's so many things in nature to be grateful for. So I am thankful for the sunrise and the sunset.

I think the way the sky gets painted is beautiful. So both sunrise and sunset definitely on my list. But what else?

Like, I love the mountains. The mountains just make my heart full. I think they're beautiful to look at.

I love going to the mountains. What about in the fall when the leaves change colors? Oh, I'm so thankful for the beauty that is the orange and the yellows and the reds, right?

So what nature? Is it a babbling brook? Is it a roaring ocean?

What are you thankful for that is just natural? This outside? Is it when you happen to see a deer on the side of the road or in your neighborhood somewhere near some woods, and they're just in their natural habitat?

And that kind of makes you smile. Like when you see animals in their natural habitat, that always makes you smile. I'm always grateful for that.

I love the seashells when I visit the ocean. As I said, Sanibel Island was a piece of my childhood, so that's known for a lot of shells. There's a lot of shells on Sanibel.

We would definitely pick up shells. Shells make me smile. They are a natural thing.

Flowers, there are certain flowers that, every time I see them, I'm like, oh, look! Like hydrangeas, I love hydrangeas. I love irises.

I always point out irises when I see them. Irises make me smile. What things in nature?

Is it a bird? Is it a type of animal? Is it a stream?

A waterfall? Any type of water thing always is going to get me. That's going to go on my list.

Is it just the quiet of the early morning? Is it the sound of the rain? What things in nature just are you grateful for?

Like, that makes you happy. It makes your heart smile. I think you can come up with 15 things here because nature is so vast, and there's so much, right?

So whether it's fish or whether it's a bear in the wild or whether it's a particular type of tree, like I like the Japanese maple. I think they're really pretty. What?

When you see it outside, it's just like, that makes me smile, the smell of fresh cut grass, whatever it is. I think you could come up with plus or minus, of course, but plus or minus 15 things that are just in nature, just outside, all right?

Next category, non-tangible things. What do I mean by that? I love a quiet morning where I'm not rushed, where I can drink my coffee and just start really slow.

That is a gift to me, and I am so grateful for the mornings like that. I try to do one a week, bitch, just really slow, obviously, on the weekend, but I can just drink my coffee and just sit there and just have a slow, quiet morning.

That's not a tangible thing. You can't hold it, but it's a beautiful thing, and I'm so grateful for it. What other things like that?

How about the feeling at night when you know you don't have an alarm to wake up to the next day, right? That's a great feeling. I'm thankful for that.

I'm thankful that I don't have to send an alarm. That's a non-tangible thing. Something else, and you could say it's tangible or non-tangible.

I put it in the non-tangible category. We're coming up, we're here at the holidays. When the Christmas lights are the only light on in the room, that makes me smile.

Oh, but equally, when it's just a fireplace, and that's the only light in the room, is the light of the fire from the fireplace. Those things are not really tangible.

I don't know how to say, but that feeling, it just warms my heart, and I'm so grateful for those types of things. So what things in your life maybe aren't tangible?

The feeling you get when you sit there and sip your warm coffee cuddled under a blanket. The feeling of Christmas lights, what is untangible but beautiful, and you're grateful for it. I'm going to put five for that category.

So if you can come up with plus or minus, maybe about five things. These are just like goals to shoot for. They're not hard and fast.

All right, next category is faith-based things. So maybe the first part of your list was you were grateful for salvation. Maybe that was the first thing you said is I'm grateful for Jesus.

But in this section, let's explore that a little more. I'm grateful for grace. I need grace every single day.

I'm so grateful that God gives grace. I need that, and I'm grateful for it.

As I was walking through a dark season going through my divorce, one of the characteristics of God, that just was overwhelming to me, that just kind of blew me away, that struck me in such a powerful way, was God's faithfulness.

I had been let down by people, and they were not faithful, but God has always been faithful. There has not been a season where he has not been faithful. There's not been a time.

So I am grateful for God's faithfulness. That just was an overwhelming thing for me. In that season, just to, I was constantly, God continually reminded me of his faithfulness, and he was unending.

So I'm grateful for his faithfulness. I'm grateful, of course, for salvation. I'm grateful for Jesus.

I'm grateful for the cross. I'm grateful for mercy. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, God, for mercy.

Thank you for the people that have come into my life to teach me about these things. Thank you that I have a place to go to learn.

All these things of faith, there's been moments and times and seasons in my life where my faith is just really, like, crystallized in a certain, around a certain event or a certain thing.

Like, I had a major auto accident, and I really should have died. And God came through in such a powerful way. And I'm grateful for that.

I'm thankful. I'm thankful for the seasons where my faith anchored me and got me through. I'm thankful for his provision.

I'm thankful that his mercies are new every morning. You know, all these things. So, so explore your faith, and what faith-based things are you grateful for?

And let's write those down, okay? So, in my estimation, once again, this is just an estimation, I say maybe about 10 faith-based things that you can come up with, that you are grateful for.

Next, in great contrast to what we just said, what are some things that are convenient that we take for granted? What can we write down that is a convenience item that is easy to take for granted? Like air conditioning, right?

I generally don't take the time to appreciate my air conditioning until it breaks. That's when I notice it. Let's notice these things before they break, like indoor plumbing.

I have hot running water. I can take a shower. I love to take a bath, and I said that.

I truly do. But every morning, I am grateful for my shower. I'm grateful that all my kitchen appliances, can you imagine cooking over a fire?

I have an oven. I have a stove. I am thankful for these things.

I'm so glad that I wasn't born 200 years earlier. I'm so glad I have indoor plumbing. Thank you.

God knew what he was doing. I needed to be born in a time period that had indoor plumbing, and I'm grateful for that. And I want to be grateful for it.

I don't want to take it for granted. I mean, it's just part of our life. We don't think about it, but let's take the time to look over these things that we have, that we just kind of brush over.

We have ceiling fans in almost every room of our house. And I never notice it until I go somewhere without a ceiling fan. I am grateful for my ceiling fan.

I'm grateful for air conditioning. I'm grateful for heating. I'm so grateful for running water, for hot running water.

All these things that we have, and we don't even think about it. We don't even think about how amazing a refrigerator is, or a freezer, or how that keeps food for a long period of time. Like, that's so great.

And I'm so grateful that I have that. So let's come up with some things that are convenience-based items that you kind of take for granted, but we're gonna write them down and be grateful for them. Okay?

And I think you could hit 10 there, easy. All right, next category is financial items. And that can be difficult, especially if you're in a difficult season.

But can you pay your bills? That's something to be thankful for. Do you have any money on savings?

That's something to be thankful for. Have you set any financial goals that you reached? Like, I wanted to buy a house, I did.

That's something to be grateful for, write that down. I wanted to buy a car, and I did. That's something to be grateful for, write that down.

Any goals you have? Have, maybe you're in a difficult season, and maybe you haven't reached some type of goal, but maybe somebody has come through for you.

Like, one time, I was in a really tough season financially, and it was tough emotionally, and all the way around, and somebody anonymously paid for my daughter's car to get fixed, and it was a lot of money. It was like $1,000.

I still don't know who did that. How beautiful that was. I'm thankful for that.

And that's this financial category, okay? So if somebody's brought you food or helped you out with a bill, that's something you can say you're thankful for. I am thankful this was done for me.

I'm so thankful.

So, like, as we look at finances, even sometimes when we're living paycheck to paycheck and money is tight, there have been times where people have come through for us and been the hand of God in our life and done something on our behalf.

And let's be thankful for that. Let's be thankful that we can pay our bills. Let's be thankful that we can put money into savings.

All kinds of things can come in this financial category. I'm thankful that I had wisdom and foresight to manage my money better. For a while, I was managing it poorly, but I am so thankful that I've gained enough wisdom to manage my money better.

Any financial things that you have that you're grateful for. And I said, maybe here, we could do about maybe five plus or minus, five financial things that we're grateful for, even if it's like, seriously, I can pay my bills.

That is something to be thankful for. Truly, don't take that for granted. It's a beautiful thing to be able to pay your bills.

Okay, next category is food, yay. And food sounds so silly, but I love food, I do. And like, if I go to a Mexican restaurant and I get chips and salsa, it puts me in a good mood.

I don't know what it is about the flavor of salsa. I've read things about spices and natural endorphins. I don't know if that's true.

But salsa puts me in a good mood. It truly does, I just, I get happy when I eat salsa. Another thing like that for me is chili.

That's crazy, I know. And I grew up in Florida, where it didn't get cold. And me and my sister would beg our mom to make chili in July.

And she's like, it's not cold enough for chili. But we just really love chili. And to this day now, when it starts getting cold, I think, ooh, I can make chili.

Chili just makes me happy. What food makes you happy? What food have you eaten that you're really glad you got to try?

Like the wagyu beef, like that's a big deal now. Like if you had that, like I'm thankful I got to try that. I tried reindeer sausage, that was so unusual.

But very cool. I got to try that, thank you. I'm thankful for that.

What are your go-to foods that just a baked potato hits the spot? Like what foods are you thankful that they exist? Like I am grateful that I get to eat this food.

I mean, I may not eat it every day, but I'm glad this food exists. I can go there. It's going to make me smile.

I'm glad I got to try that super fancy thing. I'm glad that when I'm feeling kind of low, I can eat some gingerbread. Oh, I love gingerbread.

Whatever it is, right? So what foods are you thankful for? And I estimate about 15.

I mean, I could come up with way more than 15 foods that I'm grateful for, but about 15. If you hit my numbers, and I did say plus or minus, but that puts you at 100 things, okay? 100 things you're grateful for.

One last category I want to add. I want you to write down anything you're proud of yourself for. What are you proud of yourself for doing?

Are you proud that you finished college? Are you proud that you did the right thing, even when nobody was looking? And maybe to this day, nobody knows that you didn't say this, or you didn't do that when you could have.

What are you proud of yourself for? Sometimes, when we go through dark season, we don't have a cheerleader to tell us they're proud of us. I think one really difficult thing about going through a hard season is we have to be our own cheerleader.

And we are emotionally spent and don't have the energy to be our own cheerleader, but that's what we've got. We've got ourselves. So, I want to, in this last category, to write down the things you're proud of yourself for.

You stuck it out when a lot of other people would quit. You did the right thing even when nobody was looking. You held your tongue and you didn't say what you could have said and totally ruin that person, but you didn't.

You did the right thing. You finished school. All of these things, I just want you to take a minute and ruminate on the things you've done that you're proud of.

Whether it was landing that job or saving up the money to buy that thing that was expensive, paying off the house, that was a big one for me. What are you proud of yourself for?

And just take a minute to ruminate on that, because if you don't have a cheerleader in your life, and you have to be your own cheerleader, this is how you encourage yourself. Write down the things you're grateful for.

I am grateful that I paid off my house. I'm grateful. I'm thankful that I finished college.

I am grateful. I'm thankful that I landed that job. I'm grateful that I did the right thing, even when nobody knew it.

Write the things down that you're grateful for. You're proud of yourself about, okay? And just take a minute to kind of pat yourself on the back, just a little bit.

You need that. You deserve that, okay? Especially if nobody else is there to do it for you, okay?

So, a hundred things. Do you think you can do it? Do you think you can write a hundred things down?

It's important. I feel like once we start looking at our world and our life through the lens of gratitude, it makes a big difference. It really does.

And it's just something we have to be conscientious about and work on. But then we get it and it clicks. It's kind of like wearing those UV lenses.

Have you ever tried on the sunglasses that are UV versus not UV? And I remember somebody showing them to me, and we were at the water. And they were like, look down.

And you could see the fish under the water when you were wearing the UV sunglasses versus the regular sunglasses. Gratitude is kind of like that. OK?

It's like looking through a different lens. And it cuts out all the noise and helps you see the good things. All right?

And we just have to train ourselves to look at the world through a different lens. But it makes that big of a difference. I promise you, it does.

So get this big chunk of 100 things down. I think it's really, really doable. It's, you can do this.

We've broken it down into simple steps, into little categories. You can come up with 100 things you're grateful for. And then if you build on that, and if you say, I'm going to write down three things a day that I'm grateful for.

Next year, at this time, you'll have 1,100 things, because three things a day is a thousand things, right, over the course of a year. And then you just wrote down a hundred today. You're going to have so many things you're grateful for.

And even in the middle of the darkest season of your life, if you can come up with that many things that you're grateful for, what a beautiful, inspiring testimony you'll be to other people.

Like even in the darkest night of the soul, I still found things to come up with to be grateful for. I would rather light a match than curse the dark. Let us look for things that are beautiful in this world, instead of focusing on the negative.

I know you can do it. Tell me what you're grateful for. I would love to see your gratitude less.

I would love to know the things that you are grateful for. So you can find me online, www.workingonamazing.com. I'm on most social media platforms, but I do tend to be on Facebook the most.

So Working on Amazing, you can look me up there. I would love to know what you are grateful for. I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I look forward to hearing from you next time. Bye.