Every year, I put up my Christmas lights and other decorations outside the house without distraction. This means no music or podcasts. I don’t want to have any distractions. I want my thoughts to be free, so I can reflect on the past year, what’s changed, what’s new and what happened that I didn’t expect, personally and professionally.

This year, my overriding thought was gratitude.

Call it old age, maturity or maybe having grandkids; I can’t go a day without being thankful for the many blessings I’ve been given. I’ve read that the more grateful you are, the less chance you have of feeling depressed. For me, that means being grateful for everything, and I mean everything.

Many years ago, a friend told me that every morning, he writes down ten things he’s grateful for and doesn’t repeat anything on his list. I told him that seemed impossible. But consider this, we only think we should be grateful for the big things in life: that big promotion, buying a new house or getting married.

But what about the little things, the simple things, the things we may take for granted every day? For example, are you grateful for the sunshine and the weather? Are you grateful for your car, your fingers, your kids or your job? Are you really grateful for your job?

But what about something hard, something you don’t like or a challenge you’re facing? Are you grateful for those things too? For those challenges in life, my answer is yes; we should be grateful for them, and we should be grateful for everything, which includes the good and the bad. Why? We grow, learn and make better choices in the future when we can face our challenges.

Whenever we’re faced with challenges in life, it’s too easy to complain or feel sorry for ourselves. It takes real effort to see the simple blessings in life and be grateful for everything you have … or don’t have.

If you’re looking for a new resolution this year, how about challenging yourself to write three things you’re grateful for that day? If you run out of things to write, call me, and I’ll try to help you come up with a few thousand things that maybe you haven’t thought of.

My two cents.

Merry Christmas!