YOU HAVE A REASON TO BE THANKFUL.

"Here is a little song I wrote, you might want to sing it note for note, don't worry be happy. In every life we have some trouble, when you worry you make it double, don't worry be happy......". These are the words of the opening stanza of the famous song 'Don't worry be happy' by Bobby Mcferrin. A song that brings a smile to ones lips as you sing along to the lyrics as the sweet tunes whisk you away from your worries.

Likewise there is everyone's favourite childhood animation "The Lion King", where the characters Timon and Pumba sing the song Hakuna Matata in one of the scenes. The first stanza starts like "Hakuna Matata! What a wonderful phrase. Hakuna Matata! Ain't no passing craze. I means no worries for the rest of your days. It's our problem-free philosophy Hakuna Matata!...."

Such sweet tunes that have become music to the ears and soothing to the soul. Letting you know that no matter how your day or night is or has turned out, you still have a valid reason to be thankful and to smile. We are quite an ungrateful lot who take so many things for granted in this life, not taking into account that the life we live is only meant to be lived once & that being short should be lived wisely.

When you rise in the morning, you are meant to give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength, for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks then the fault lies in yourself. How easily we can forget how precious life is! The act of being grateful or thankful does not change the scenery. It merely washes clean the glass you look through so you can clearly see the colours.

Having  a grateful heart unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision fro tomorrow.

We need to be thankful for it is not the only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. A tree is known by its fruits; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love. You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life.

You will have set in motion an spiritual law: the more you have & are grateful for, the more will be given to you. Bad things do happen, how you respond to them defines your character and the quality of your life. you can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of your loss, or you can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift you have & that is life itself.