Earlier this week while Canadians celebrated Thanksgiving, I’m was in North Carolina with my mastermind group of 11 other women entrepreneurs celebrating victories such as a new book being published, six-figure incomes and brilliant ideas for new business programs.  And while the air of success was running rampant in the room, there was also a great feeling of gratitude that we had all met, gathered and continued to support and inspire each other – on both the business and personal front.

Grateful to be part of this amazing group, it got me thinking about being thankful.

“Positive thanking” is as powerful as positive thinking. One inspires the other, and the simple act of saying “thank you” creates a more positive experience. When you want to improve your mood, enhance your relationship, your business or your life, or simply change the focus from something negative to positive, saying “thank you” can do just that.

Gratitude has instant “feel good” power. It feeds the soul and fuels the heart. Giving a sincere “thank you” creates a kinder, gentler society.  Kindness begets kindness, and when something good happens, and we acknowledge it, the positive effect is amplified.

Many human beings have a great capacity for taking things for granted and as someone once said, feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

Gratitude opens the gates to receive more blessings, abundance and opportunities. Saying, “thank you” for the actions, things and people that matter not only makes you feel better, but also can gather momentum to attract more good things.

The Universe, like most people, likes to be appreciated and then just wants to help out even more. Invite gratitude in first, and success and wealth will follow.

There is also merit in being grateful for “gifts” we would rather have not received. Think of the (many) times you’ve heard someone say, “Thank God, I didn’t get that job,” … or marry that person, buy that house or get into that car. Sometimes giving thanks assumes a kind of spiritual or personal victory.

Life may not always be fun, or easy, but it is a gift. When we are grateful for life and all its experiences – painful and otherwise – we become better people. We can be thankful for difficult times, when we see that difficulties are meant to rouse not discourage us. Even gifts wrapped in heartache are valuable, when we can recognize (and feel) the deeper meaning. As Eckhart Tolle says, “Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness.”

Gratitude also puts you in a place of contentment rather than one of lack or neediness, and that is a much healthier space from which to create or attract greater success and abundance. When you realize there is nothing lacking, a world of opportunity opens to you and you find the strength, energy, and even joy, to carry on. I love how Winston Churchill put it: “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”

In short, an attitude of gratitude allows space for even greater good, support, and acts of kindness to enter in, and “thank you” together become two of the most powerful words on earth.

I recently stumbled upon this quote in my local bookstore.

The value of reading:

With all the bad economic news, it is easy to forget the old blessing. Books are a great bargain in hard times, and a new flat screen never changed anyone’s life.

It got me thinking about books, and book clubs. This month our book club is talking about State of Wonder, a pharmaceutical thriller set in the Amazon (at least that’s how I’d describe it), by Ann Patchett. I liked it, and realize I probably would not have read it unless mandated by my highly intellectual book club. And being forced (I mean, encouraged) to read new things is just one of many great reasons to be part of the club.   Here are a few more.

15 reasons to join a book club

1)    Learn about great literature, on a sofa.

2)    Discover the difference between fiction, non-fiction and useless fiction.

3)    Create a community – share your passion with consenting adults.

4)    Meet new, smart and refreshingly odd people… who read about things that scare you.

5)    Discover authors and genres you’ve never heard of.

6)    Find out little-known facts, transgressions and secrets about your bookie friends.

7)    Ask yourself, and others, questions about the world as you see it.

8)    Increase your vocabulary, and use it recklessly.

9)    Combine your guilty pleasures – wine and excessive amounts of really good food usually accompany the books and discussion.

10) Read the book before you see the movie, and enjoy the best parts that the fllm leaves out.

11)  Discuss (psychoanalyze?) those books that just need to be talked about. (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, comes to mind).

12)  Finish the classics that you were supposed to read in high school.

13) Rant, pass judgment and make outrageous moral or cultural commentary without consequences.

14) Be part of a club that would have you as a member.

15) Expand your reading, expand your world – some books really can change your life.

Part of a book club? What have you read that’s made an impact?