Grateful and thankful for 2016.
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Thankfulness requires both a sender and a receiver. A person or thing created something for which you received and benefited from in some way. Gratefulness implies a state of being – just being grateful for what is.

This Christmas season we are typically grateful for being alive, being able to share our time with others, being of good health and wealth, etc. We are thankful for the presents we received, the food that we ate and the camaraderie that was shared when we got together with friends and family.

I am very grateful for being in good heatlh and having the ability to share my thoughts and words with others – to provide awareness and understanding of various things primarily related to health and wellness. Being in good health allows us to do things to help ourselves and others.

This past year my wife and I were pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain. It is a 500-mile walk that starts in southwestern France and ends in Santiago, Spain. My wife had breast cancer a couple of years ago and wanted to do this to demonstrate her thankfulness for recovering fully from that disease.

I wanted to demonstrate my thankfulness for her recovery and our ability, both financial and health-wise, to walk 500 miles. We did train for nearly a year for this event. We had the right equipment and mindset. It was not taken on a whim.

We are starting the New Year (2017) with gratefulness for being alive and able to do the things we want to do. Health and wellness does not just happen. It is not a default condition. Over time our immune system, without proper care and attention, is no longer able to counter the daily attacks we experience every day from our lifestyle choices.

There is one thing that most of us can work towards for a year from now – the end of 2017.  It is having better health.  Please make it a goal of yours for 2017.  With better health you can do more to help yourself and others. Have a very Merry Christmas and a tremendous New Years.

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