Even though our world continues to grow in complexity and uncertainty, it is still an amazing blessing that many of us have the opportunity at some point today to pause and celebrate Thanksgiving in America.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving today, there is no hiding the fact that we still face big challenges in building a strong family, succeeding in building a career in a hyper-competitive global marketplace, and keeping our communities safe.

As we continue on our journey to build and strengthen our character, one of the most well-proven enablers to successfully face adversity and overcome challenges is to be grateful for the many blessings in our lives. The simple act of “counting our blessings” has been proven effective to maintain our resilience and perseverance to overcome obstacles. The “proof” has been demonstrated in the stuffy halls of academia, our own real-world experience, and with psychologists and advisors all over the world. Thanksgiving is a great day to remind all of us of the power of the simple act of counting our blessings.

Several months ago, our family started “A Reason to be grateful…” jar that stays on our kitchen table. At least once a day, and sometimes several times a day, one of us will take a moment and write down a “a reason to be grateful” and toss it in the jar. As the weeks and months have passed, just physically seeing the rising stack of reasons has helped to create a slightly more positive atmosphere around the kitchen table.

The jar does not provide a remedy to the challenges we face, but it is a small, physical reminder each day that despite our challenges, we have a large and growing stack of reasons to be grateful as we continue to face the reality of our world.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving today, our time is probably filled with a bit of traveling, cooking & eating, crowds, and maybe a good football game. From our family to yours, please consider starting a journal or a jar to stack up some reasons to be grateful as I am confident it will help your family as it has helped ours.

As we become intentional about reflecting daily on the many blessings in our lives, we build and strengthen our character and Character Creates Opportunity to overcome difficult challenges and set a positive example for those we care about most.