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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of IHeart Radio.

Good morning.

This is Laura.

Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is that it is good to be thankful for things.

And it is also good to know that we can make things happen, that we can then, later, be grateful for.

Gratitude doesn't need to be a passive practice.

With a little intention, we can make good things happen for ourselves and the people we care about. Today is Thanksgiving in the United States, a holiday that is all about giving thanks.

Every November there are new studies about gratitude practices out there. a holiday that is all about giving thanks.

Every November, there are new studies about gratitude practices out there.

Theoretically, counting our blessings can make us healthier, wealthier, and wiser, or so the literature goes.

If you look into it, some of this is perhaps a bit overblown. There is also some

counter evidence. Forcing gratitude practices on kids, for instance, can backfire. But still,

it is good to go through life feeling grateful. And I think it is also helpful to realize this. We have some

control over having things in our life that we are grateful for. Not complete control, of course.

But in many cases, gratitude can be a proactive practice. We can actively put things in our lives that we will then feel thankful to have.

We can go into any day thinking,

what would I like to be thankful for at the end of this day?

And we can go into any longer periods of time pondering what we would be thankful for

at the end. For instance, you might know that you'd feel grateful for spending time with a far-flung

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