As we enjoy another Thanksgiving Day, signaling the arrival of the “holiday season” and the obligatory “where did the time go” utterances, I am thankful for one of the best pieces of advice for daily living as offered by Nathaniel Branden in his essay called “Passion and Soulfulness.”
In essence, Branden advises that we greet each new day with two important questions. First, what am I thankful for? Second, what’s next?
For over a decade I’ve been using a personal journal to exercise the habit of thinking on these two questions, and find such musings a calming start to the day; a thankful heart is therapeutic.
The second question focuses the mind on what’s most important for happiness and success in life, i.e., my next steps. A free-range imagination will generate ideas from the prosaic to the divine–things that need to be addressed today, new behaviors I wish to adopt, and longer term aspirations and intentions for my life.
In “thinking by the process of writing” I find serenity, clarity and inspiration. As I look back it seems the best self-help book I could imagine is the one created by me and for me.
Happy Thanksgiving indeed–365 days a year!
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