Are you up for a Thanksgiving gratitude challenge? My Thanksgiving ritual for many years now has been to make a gratitude list and post it here on my blog. This helps me add meaning to a holiday that often focuses more on food, football and early bird sales than those people, places and things I am truly thankful for.

Compared to so many in the world, most of us are incredibly fortunate. While it’s hard to be grateful when we are in pain, or feel lonely, unloved or in the midst of a major loss, I truly believe that making a gratitude list will help make our lives a little less painful, a little less lonely and will perhaps even help us feel a little more loved, or at least more loving.

With that in mind, I invite you to join me for a one day Thanksgiving gratitude challenge. Make a list of the people, places and things you are grateful for today. Your list can be 3 things or 30 things or 100 things or more. They can be simple things like a good night’s sleep. Or complex things like solutions for global warming. You can’t get anything wrong here.

Use the notes app on your smart phone, or get some old-fashioned paper and pencil, or write in your journal. Try to write for at least fifteen minutes and see what you can come up with.

I make my lists as an exercise of spontaneity (or stream-of-consciousness, if you want to call it that) so my list isn’t necessarily arranged by order of importance, but the order in which it came to me. I rarely edit what flows from my fingertips. So sometimes it doesn’t make sense, and it’s not the least bit perfect, but here goes:

100 Things I’m Grateful For:

1. my mate, my family–including the four-leggeds
2. old friends
3. new friends
4. readers of this blog and my books–thank you!
5. walks by the river
6. the blue ridge mountains
7. winter views
8. a good walking stick
9. toasted almonds
10. good books with strong women characters
11. my imagination
12. chickadees
13. downy woodpeckers
14. river rock
15. raspberry and banana smoothies
16. organic Assam tea
17. lunch with friends
18. tea with friends
19. visits with my daughters
20. a good writing morning where I lose track of time until lunch
21. emails from readers who love my books
22. fearless women writers
23. fearless writers of any gender
24. people who don’t complain and persevere in spite of what’s difficult
25. laughter
26. people who laugh at my jokes
27. people who make me laugh
28. inspiring quotes from creative people
29. creativity in general
30. drawing, painting, journaling, drumming-all of it
31. dreams in the night that give me characters for novels
32. sparks of creativity that turn into books and articles and blog posts
33. people who say “thank you” when I try to help them
34. a kind word
35. a genuine smile
36. responsible neighbors
37. breakfast for dinner
38. a really good movie with strong female characters
39. wise old women
40. marriage equality
41. back porches
42. front porches
43. a fire in the wood stove on cold evenings
44. people who admit they can be wrong
45. people who can admit they made a mistake
46. people who ask for what they want
47. acceptance
48. authenticity
49. courage
50. soulful things
51. mystical things
52. mysterious things
53. magical things
54. things that surprise me in a good way
55. people who make an effort to resolve conflicts
56. people who listen well
57. tenacity
58. trees
59. a good meal made by someone who loves to cook
60. the latest auditory devices
61. people with clear, strong voices
62. handwritten letters
63. books about symbols
64. my favorite pens
65. Orion magazine
66. really good earthy poems that aren’t academic
67. mentors online and in books (Austin Kleon, Brene Brown, Seth Godin, Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Elizabeth Gilbert, etc.)
68. TED talks
69. Krista Tippett and On Being
70. Dobra tea room or any place that specializes in a good cup of tea
71. Brahms being practiced on the piano in the family room
72. Rhythm and Blues
73. Soul
74. Jazz
75. future son-in-laws
76. a good restaurant
77. art museums
78. art galleries
79. time to write
80. a good story
81. a good storyteller
82. artists and writers who are excellent at what they do
83. a walk on a beach when nobody’s around
84. full moons on a warm night
85. the sound of fallen leaves crunching under my feet on the trail
86. the sound of the river where I walk
87. the sound of small children laughing anywhere
88. the smell of Christmas trees
89. the smell of bread baking
90. the taste of a good piece of chocolate
91. dancing, moving, singing
92. a comfortable reading chair
93. wildflowers
94. walking the dogs on a beautiful afternoon when I “should” be marketing
95. resilience
96. natural beauty
97. our planet
98. gravity
99. blueberries
100. What would you add?

If you’re up for this Thanksgiving gratitude challenge, get started and make your own list. It can be silly and fun, as well as deep and sincere. What are you grateful for? Feel free to share your list with me. Or if you don’t have time to make a list, what would you like to add to this one?

Here’s my one minute Thanksgiving video for you. Please enjoy!

[youtube]http://youtu.be/5geXaInZQec[/youtube]

P.S. I’m an ex-shrink who writes novels about resilient people. Check out my books here.