Thanks!

Hello Friends,

If you are celebrating on this day (we should really celebrate every day), I hope it goes well and you find peace and camaraderie and have lots of things and people to feel gratitude for.

I would like to say "Thank You" for sticking with me through the first year (half year almost) of this newsletter. It has meant the world to me. These are fun to write and extra fun to know that people are reading them.

Gratitude is an interesting word: it has a banal meaning, like when it was first introduced into the English language in the 15th century (to feel thankful for something), and a more complex meaning where it represents a deeper recognition of personal blessings as in mindfulness practice.

Personally, when I am struggling with the day, I turn to gratitude to put myself back in an optimistic frame of mind. No matter how bad things seem to be, I can always recite a list of things for which I am thankful. And, there is probably no better way to make oneself feel silly grumbling about an inconvenience.

It's a simple action—anyone can do it anywhere at any time. A sincere thank you is a powerful option to make someone feel better than they felt before they saw you. And it makes you feel good, too.

I'm not sure there is anything else in the universe that can do both at once.

Happy reading and happy writing,

David