Happy Thanksgiving

I wanted to interrupt my series Stronger through Adversity to simply say Happy Thanksgiving.

For those of you across the US, I suspect, if you are like me, the Thanksgiving table will be quite different this year. While I wish I could be with my children and grandchildren, I am still filled with gratitude.

If anything, this year has been a tremendous opportunity to gain perspective on what really matters. It’s easy to get wrapped up in pain, fear, anger, and divisiveness brought on by the cataclysmic disruptions in 2020, but I am far too blessed to go there.

My gratitude starts with you. Thanks for spending time with me through blogs, LinkedIn live interviews, and my books. I am also grateful that I can still make a difference for my clients while spending less time on planes and in hotel rooms.

I carry a huge debt of gratitude for essential workers across industries – healthcare, product transit, food delivery, government services, and so many more.

I can’t even begin to express my gratitude to my family and friends. Physical distance is so much easier when you have people to hold in your heart.

I will close this short post with the words of someone I clowned with in orphanages, nursing homes, and hospitals across China. I was fortunate to serve with and learn from the great Dr. Patch Adams. You may remember, Robin Williams played Patch in a movie of the same name. Patch once said, “At the age of 18, I made up my mind to never have another bad day in my life. I dove into an endless sea of gratitude from which I’ve never emerged.“

This Thanksgiving I hope you will follow Patch’s lead and dive into that sea of gratitude! I took that advice long ago and it has worked for me. Happy Thanksgiving, the sea of gratitude is endless.