Today is Thanksgiving Day 2012 and yesterday I challenged people to create a gratitude list that they could reflect upon today.  Aside from the items that may be on that list, my hope is that everyone truly embraces the feeling of having and being enough of themselves today.  Life can be hard at times and when you think about what has transpired since a year ago today, I would imagine that many people have gone through a substantial amount of change since then.  My guess is that people can find it somewhat daunting that the three hundred and sixty five days that created the measure of space between last year and today, is filled with significant mile stones for many individuals.  In one year, people have celebrated a new life that was born into a family or among their friends, that is now part of the people that they are connected to.  Sadly, in one year some people have lost someone close to them and may still be contending with the grief of not having that person with them on this special day.  People may have gotten married over the course of the year and others may have called an end to a long term relationship.  So much can happen within this time frame, that selecting a day to reflect on one's many blessings never does it justice.  The thing about this day, however, is that you can dedicate it to acknowledging and embracing all of the things that contributed to who you have become thus far.   Whether things had a positive or negative effect in your life, is a matter of the perspective that you possess over all of it.  There are many service men and women that are not home today, as they may find themselves in a distant land, while putting themselves in harms way to defend our freedom.  For those people I am deeply grateful for, as they are part of the reason that I am allowed to celebrate this day with those people that are closest to me, without the any apprehension about my well being or safety.  Finally, to the many individuals that have contributed to my life over the last year.  Whether it was family, friends or a person that I kept running into that always offered me a smile and or a greeting to make my day, I thank you all for those contributions to my life through out this last year, as my life has been a true bounty of blessings and great fulfillment.