Thanksgiving is a good time to take a break and reflect. As I consider what I love and the things I’m grateful for a whole list comes to mind and I don’t know where to stop. So let me share some of them with you and I hope you’ll add your own.

1. Clean water. I feel so lucky to open a tap and have fresh drinking water – and I can take a shower without going to a well or river. On travels to India and Egypt I’ve seen a mother washing her young daughter’s hair at a pump in front of mud brick huts and washer women and men cleaning clothes at the rivers.
2. I feel Loved. It’s easy to get caught up in the ego and feel fear, insecurity and lack. But when I settle in and go deep I feel like the motherly arms of the universe wrapped around me. It’s like being caressed and held gently suspended by the most tender and caring mother. I also see and feel that love in the fresh air, the clear sunshine, the beautiful flowers, handmade chocolates, and ancient architecture that surrounds me.
3. My healthy body temple. It is so easy to take the body for granted. I get up and it’s there. My heart beats automatically. My lungs function. The blood courses through my veins and I don’t have to do anything except eat healthy foods, drink plenty of water and get some exercise.
4. The gift of life. It’s said in India that those who take human form are envied. I am spirit wearing a human form. Eventually I’ll shed the form and the spirit will move on to other experiences. But for the moment the gift of being embodied and living life on this earth is rare and precious.
5. Friends. I am so grateful for the many friends I have come to know and love over the past years. Without you my life would be much less rich and happy.
6. Mom. No one can replace a mother’s love. It’s something that she gives whether I merit it or not. She supports my decisions even the crazy ones like moving to Annecy and says, “so long as you’re happy. That’s all that matters.”

ow your turn. What’s on your gratitude list?

Bio: Debra Moffitt is the award winning author of Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life and “Garden of Bliss: Cultivating the Inner Landscape for Self-Discovery” (Llewellyn Worldwide, February 2013). A visionary, dreamer and teacher, she’s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices, writing and creativity in the U.S. and Europe. More at http://www.awakeintheworld.com and on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/DebraMoffittAwakeintheWorld