Marking My Spot

Thank You
- by Oprah Winfrey


I live in the space of thankfulness - and I have been rewarded a
million times over for it. I started out giving thanks for small
things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased.

That's because what you focus on expands, and when you focus on the
goodness in your life, you create more of it. Opportunities,
relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful
no matter what happened in my life.

"Say thank you!" Those words from my friend and mentor Maya Angelou
turned my life around. One day about ten years ago, I was sitting in
my bathroom with the door closed and the toilet lid down, booing and
ahooing on the phone so uncontrollably that I was incoherent. "Stop
it! Stop it right now and say thank you!" Maya chided. "But - you
don't understand," I sobbed. To this day, I can't remember what it was
that had me so far gone, which only proves the point Maya was trying
to make. "I do understand," she told me. "I want to hear you say it
now. Out loud. 'Thank you.'" Tentatively, I repeated it:

"Thankyou - but what am I saying thank you for?"

"You're saying thank you," Maya said, "because your faith is so strong
that you don't doubt that whatever the problem, you'll get through it.
You're saying thank you because you know that even in the eye of the
storm, God has put a rainbow in the clouds. You're saying thank you
because you know there's no problem created that can compare to the
Creator of all things. Say thank you!"

So I did - and still do. Only now I do it every day.

I kept a gratitude journal, as Sarah Ban Breathnach suggests in Simple
Abundance, listing at least five things that I'm grateful for. My list
includes small pleasures: the feel of Kentucky bluegrass under my feet
(like damp silk); a walk in the woods with all nine of my dogs and my
cocker spaniel Sophie trying to keep up; cooking fried green tomatoes
with Stedman and eating them while they're hot; reading a good book
and knowing another awaits.

And when I feel that life is hard, all I have to do is read my
gratitude journal. IT truly helps.

My thank-you list also includes things too important to take for
granted: an "okay" mammogram, friends who love me, 15 years at the
same job (and loving it more than the first day I started), a chance
to share my vision for a better life, staying centered, having
financial security. I won't kid you, having money for all the things I
want is a blessing. But as I look back over my journals, which I've
kept since I was 15 years old, 99 per cent of what brought me real joy
had nothing to do with money . (It had a lot to do with food,
however.)

It's not easy being grateful all the time. But it's when you feel
least thankful that you are most in need of what gratitude can give
you: PERSPECTIVE. Just knowing you have that daily list to complete
allows you to look at your day differently, with an awareness of
every sweet gesture and kind thought passed your way. When you learn to
say thank you, you see the world anew. And as Meister Eckhart so
eloquently stated:

"If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is 'Thank you',
that would suffice."