“Energy and persistence conquer all things.” – Benjamin Franklin

Two years ago I had the chance to participate in a 40 days of gratitude with a handful of my friends. A spiritual center in Phoenix, but together a booklet filled with a question for each day. My friend was extremely excited about it, and his enthusiasm was such that I thought I would get in on the action. The results were amazing due to writing about something I was thankful to have in my life for 40 days it gave me a whole new way to look at each day. In less than a week of this experiment I caught myself looking for things to write about at the end of the day. It seemed as though each day took a little less energy, but the amount I was writing began to grow. The nights that I did not want to write anything I would still crack open the booklet to at least write one thing from the question that day.

As I look back on those last two years the experience that manifested around Thanksgiving was so much greater than I could remember in years past.   All too often the holidays would seem like more of a chore and before the “special day” was over I would be drained and exhausted missing out on the spirit of the holiday completely.   This 40 days of gratitude kept the focus of Thanksgiving in the front of my head and really showed me how everyday was a day to give thanks.

This practice has continued on for the past two years. Today when I look at my day, I always end with 3 things that I am grateful for. Talking to that same friend today, he suggested we create a Change Your Life Friday 40 days of gratitude leading up to Thanksgiving. Starting a week from tomorrow, we will be posting a gratitude question on the site. Each day you can check out what that question is and post here in the comment section or just write it down for your own journal. We are also asking over the next week for our readers to submit questions they would like to see included in the 40.

Affirmation: I am grateful for this moment, in this moment I am grateful.

Call To Action: Please post one thing you are currently grateful for in your day, and include a question that you like to see included in our 40 days of gratitude.  This 40 days of gratitude could really inspire our community and the people around us.  Take some time and think how you can help others find a little more thanks in their days.