Carolyn Smagalski

Goal Setting

Founder - Editor - Host

It is a beautiful Thanksgiving Holiday.  The pies are made, the bird is in the oven, and I am reviewing the riches in my life - my loved ones; you, my readers, who allow me to be a part of your lives, and scores of others who affect my life without even knowing I exist; the abundance that we enjoy in America; my freedom to think and to write; the ability to live a productive life.

Epicurus wrote, "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." 

A powerful thought. 

There are many times when we write our goals, achieve them and move on, without the slightest thought of reflection.   Take the time, today, to review your riches in life.  Look back over the past year, to what you desired and to what you strived to accomplish - mentally, physically, spiritually, financially.  You may not have achieved everything on your goal list, but I am willing to bet that you have accomplished many of your goals, and there were some that came as the sudden icing on the cake.

"Gratitude is one of the least articulate of the emotions, especially when it is deep," said Felix Frankfurter.  In the recent past, I had been the fortunate recipient of 475 vacation hours by my fellow business associates.  My son had been hit by a truck, and was in critical condition for several months.  There was no question that I was needed at the hospital, working daily toward his recovery with the dedicated team of health care professionals. 

In an extraordinary act of unsolicited kindness, my co-workers gave me the "time" they could have used for their own pleasure, so that I could keep my household afloat while putting my full attention on my son.  My gratitude for their kindness is so profound, so lasting, so moving that words cannot possibly express how these friends have affected my life.  Their kindness will be in my spirit until the day I die. 

Albert Einstein, in his erudite manner, said, "Many times a day I realize how much my own life is built on the labors of my fellowmen, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received."
 

As you sit down for your feast today, be grateful for the past, delight in the present, and look forward with enthusiastic anticipation to the days to come.

One last happy thought from Bill Vaughan: "When the insects take over the world we hope they will remember, with gratitude, how we took them along on all our picnics."

Content copyright © 2003-2008 by Carolyn Smagalski. All rights reserved.  This content was written by Carolyn Smagalski. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission.  Contact Carolyn Smagalski

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