This Thanksgiving was beautiful here in North Central Florida–a time of sharing with family, friends, food and music around the fire. If you’re like me you’re still enjoying leftover turkey!  I also gave the message at Unity last Sunday–on gratitude–and talked about how amazing it is to be part of the Unity worldwide family. Wherever you go, you can find your tribe, be inspired and welcomed.  Thinking of this made me feel so grateful to the many  people who’ve been so good to me wherever I’ve traveled. In fact, I sent a message to those who welcomed me so wholeheartedly during my Oregon tour last year, especially Meredith, who kept asking me to make a songbook for my album Dreamsong, which brought me to Unity by the Sea and started the whole ball rolling!

How to keep that “attitude of gratitude” going long after Thanksgiving is over?  This episode  “Grateful Connections” offers some musical tips from Richard Mekdeci, David Roth, Teri Wilder, and others. I also got a great tip from Rev. Andy Conyers, of Unity of Sebring, who sent me this quote from Sarah Ban Breathnach:  “All we have is all we need.  All we need is the awareness of how blessed we really are.”

The awareness…that’s the key.  How do you keep that awareness in your consciousness? Many people talk about the value of giving thanks as soon as you wake up.  I try to remember to say thank you every day, more than once.  Usually I like to sing it.  When I was recording my song “Thanks Giving” for the Dreamsong CD, and we did several takes, it was amazing how I just kept feeling better and better from singing “Thank you” all those times!

If you have some gratitude tips or grateful connection stories to share, please send them in. We’d love to share your story on the air!  Thanks…

To read more about Cathy’s adventures in Oregon (with pictures!) visit her personal blog at link above right.