Being Thankful is...

What is the meaning of being THANKFUL? Well by two definitions in the Oxford Language Dictionary, it is used as an adjective and means to be “pleased and relieved” and also means “expressing gratitude and relief.” We also know being thankful as an understanding of what someone has done for us in our lives to help move us forward in the journey to achieving the goals we set forth for ourselves. But, when I think of being thankful, I don’t see a person or persons specifically. I am thankful for too many people that have helped me through my journey that trying to single one out is not just difficult but a bit disrespectful to those others that have equally offered the same help. I could also choose to be thankful for having God in my life. But, to me it is a bit too theoretical to go into detail about. So, what I truly want to be thankful for is...the feeling of HOPE.

I am thankful for the fact that having hope exists in forms such as: having friends, family, significant others, and those that have somehow had my prayer passed on to them in the mist of me needing some sort of help along my life journey. I mean without hope in our hearts we would have nothing to really look forward to, including the help of others. Having hope that a family member will be there as a support system when you lose your job or home. Having hope your friend will be their when you tell them bad news and you need a hug or shoulder to cry on. Hoping that you will get that new job offer you interviewed for. To me personally, without hope being thankful has no future.

Hope is a circulation of positive energy that revolves around us everyday. We have to make the choice at the end of the day to feel it, except it, and get to understand that without it no one would know you needed the help or assistance; then there would be nobody at all to be thankful for in the end. What I am saying is that we all should be thankful and grateful towards ourselves for having the hope to keep going regardless of getting that external help or not. It is ok to be thankful for self. It is not a SELFISH thing at all! Sometimes looking inward first can help us understand the outward, including when it comes to the understanding of “being thankful”. Then, will you truly understand what being thankful is about as well as, you will spread a more positive energy towards those more willing to help you in your time of need. Which then means you now have reasons to be thankful.

Being thankful or grateful to someone often also means you had hope for them as well. Hope they will be that good person you know them as, or at least think you kinda know them as. Having hope for others is part of having hope for self and with that you can be both thankful to yourself for looking outwards and thankful that person you so depended actually came through. I know that not everyone you have hope for will be there in your time of need because others have their own hopes being put out there, but you can also be thankful for honesty. Sometimes understanding what a person cannot do for you is better than being hopeful for something that will never happen and not knowing it won’t. Life is no where near perfect or precise and neither are the people we sometimes depend on. In the end, just be thankful they have tried to help or at least was honest with why they could not.

Now with that all said, I am thankful for the strength I have to keep the hope in my heart strong. I am thankful that I have had people enter my life because of that strength they saw in me and their willingness to help me keep that strength going strong. I am thankful for those that saw the hope in my heart and helped me keep hope alive even in my deadest of times. I feel without hope in my heart I would have not had the people in my life I can truly say I am thankful for. Everyone!