When is it appropriate to be "thankful"?

I think it stops with the realization that at any moment, the fragile life we lead can come to an end. ;)

When you think about people who are in situations far worse. Hundreds of million people worldwide for example do have to drink dirty brownish water. We open our faucets and out flows wonderfully clear water. We turn a switch. And there is light. Whenever we need it.

When I burn yet another pan in the torture chamber….kitchen, i’m eternally grateful that the wife doesn’t twat my head too hard with the charred an almost certainly ruined aforementioned “blunt instrument” :¬)

I think you can still be thankful for the things that you were able to do on your own. I think it becomes more about pride when you are boastful about it to everyone else. We can be thankful for anything and everything around us. I think being thankful shows we haven’t forgotten how lucky we can be and that we appreciate what we have.

I can’t think of a bad time to be thankful. If you have enough to eat because you put yourself through school, for example, be thankful there was a school to go to and a job that paid enough for you to take classes. You may have had humble, great parents, but you can still be thankful that you were lucky enough to be born to them, and that they had the opportunities they had to give you the kind of childhood you lived. There is always a good reason to be thankful.

Being thankful never stops….the second you stop being thankful of the special things in your life becomes worthless. ;)(;

I try not to keep too strict an accounting of “what I’ve been given” vs. “what I’ve provided for others.” I’m thankful for both sides of the ledger: that I’ve been given certain gifts of heredity, nurturing and love from my parents, as well as all of the material gifts that they and others have provided, and still provide, and that I’ve been able to provide many of the same things to others.

I’m thankful for the world around me, whether I interact with it directly or not, even if only for its entertainment value from time to time. And YouTube… that’s a fine way to be entertained by parts of the world that I’m not directly involved with.

Gratitude should never stop. Life is a gift. I don’t know where it comes from, but it’s no less a gift.

For me personally, I went through some extraordinarily difficult times many of them of my own making. Surviving gives me gratitude.

Thanks for the question.

Every time you take a breath.

Always, always, always. Even for the things you are ‘responsible’ for. If circumstances (any one of a million of them) had been slightly different, you wouldn’t be where you are today. I’m not a believer, but the saying “There, but for the grace of God, go I” sums it up pretty well.

@augustlan The saying goes like this: “There are no atheists in foxholes.” You may be more in tune with the Creator than you currently realise.

All the best.