{"id":4080,"date":"2010-11-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=4080"},"modified":"2014-07-08T17:25:06","modified_gmt":"2014-07-09T00:25:06","slug":"gratitude-minus-platitudes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=4080","title":{"rendered":"Gratitude Minus Platitudes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Thank<\/a>

Thank You Computer Key by Stuart Miles, freedigitalimages.net<\/p><\/div>\n

“Being grateful may be the spiritual equivalent of Prozac,” according to Dr. Robert Emmons<\/a>. I couldn’t agree more, which why I’m grateful that it’s almost Thanksgiving time.<\/p>\n

Thanksgiving<\/a> has always been one of my favorite holidays, right up there on the list with National Chocolate Day<\/a> and the day the clocks “fall back” and we get an extra hour of sleep<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Any day stuffed full of food, family, friends and football is a good day in my book.<\/p>\n

But I’ve counted my blessings in this column a few times and realized they don’t really change all that much from year to year, which is a good thing. I am eternally grateful for all of the wonderful people and gifts in my life, but this Thanksgiving I decided to see what some other people are grateful for.<\/p>\n

By other people I mean some really famous people–and some not–whose quotes about gratitude might make you smile a little brighter as you toast the turkey this Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

Like Ricky Gervais<\/a> I am grateful for pajamas, which are certainly handy to squeeze into once you’ve unzipped your pants after a hearty Thanksgiving meal. He says, “I’ve started wearing pajamas out, because they’re more comfortable than trousers. I started out with jeans, then went to sweatpants about ten years ago. Now it’s just pajamas. I’ve gone whole hog. I wore them to the White House.”<\/p>\n

“I am grateful that there is life out there for someone who isn’t a scholar,” says Jamie Lee Curtis<\/a>. “I wear my combined 760 SAT scores like a medal around my neck that ANYONE can make it despite being a round, square, gay, alcoholic, liberal, pampered peg in the proverbial square hole of what is the norm.” Of course having two movie star parents doesn’t hurt, but I get where she’s coming from and am happy to offer a holiday cheer to misfits everywhere.<\/p>\n

“Though I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, it hasn’t changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I’m just wearing better shoes,” says Oprah Winfrey<\/a>, who admitted her shoe addiction to a live TV audience but regrettably still hasn’t invited me into her walk-in (and probably bigger than my whole house) closet.<\/p>\n

“I figure if I have my health, can pay the rent and I have my friends, I can call it ‘content,'” says one of my favorite actresses, Lauren Bacall<\/a>, who is still smoldering at 86.<\/p>\n

And finally, some wise words from the Buddha<\/a>: “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let’s all be thankful.”<\/p>\n

Cheers to that and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

When Leslie’s not counting her blessings, gobble by gobble, she can be reached at Leslie@LeslieDinaberg.com. For more columns visit www.LeslieDinaberg.com<\/a>.\u00a0Originally appeared in the\u00a0Santa Barbara Daily Sound<\/a>\u00a0on November 19, 2010.<\/h6>\n

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