Gratitude is an incredibly powerful tool in bringing awareness of your blessings in life.
I wish I can always remember this, but too often do we forget as we get caught up with what we don’t have, and forget that the very life itself we are living is indeed a blessing. Just the awareness of being alive is a wonderful blessing. To commemorate today, this day that my mother and father have bestowed me onto this Earth, I have decided to make a list of the things I am most grateful for.
21 Things I Am Thankful For
1. I am thankful for my family – My father, mother and lovely younger sister.
Thank you for your unconditional love and support through the thick and thin of my life, you guys are truly the three jewels of my life. Thank you for being a mentor and friend, for raising me with good morals and values, and gifting me the love of art – for directing me to my life’s passion.
2. I am thankful for being born – Even though I was born into a world of desire and suffering, I am obliged to have experienced such endeavors, and to continue living through this life, to make the best of my temporary existence in this human form and to come closer to enlightenment.
3. I am thankful to be a Mongolian – I am honored to be one of a nation so small, and to have a lineage to the great Mongol Empire. I am also proud of my nomadic sensibilities and tendencies, and Mongoloid traits.
4. I am thankful for my friends – The few but close friends I have, I will always cherish you guys close to my heart.
5. I am thankful for my life mentors/teachers – The people who have guided me in my darkest moments, and who have helped me reach to where I am today.
6. I am thankful for my health, for having all my mental and physical faculties intact.
7. I am thankful for my school – Thank you for believing in me and gifting me the opportunity of education.
8. I am thankful to Art – Thank you for gifting me with a visual sight, for my particular aesthetic and the ability to perceive, to appreciate all the beauty of this world in an extra sensory way.
9. I am thankful to my hands, eyes, and mind, and their ability to render visually – Thank you for giving me an over active imagination, and for the gift of expression and creativity.
10. I am thankful to all the basics of life – For always having enough food on my plate, for having a warm shelter and bed, as well as certain material possessions. These are things I often take for granted, but upon reflection, they are the great blessings/privileges of life.
11. I am thankful for being spiritual and for finding Buddhism – You are my eternal teacher, and guidance in life. Thank you for disciplining me, for giving me strength and hope, and for teaching me the power of belief.
12. I am thankful for having come in contact with many incredible Enlightened beings – His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khenrinpoche Lama Lhundrup, Lama Gonchiggua, Dagri Rinpoche, and many other Gurus in ordinary form, who helped raised my consciousness to another level.
13. I am thankful that I have the courage to not follow the crowd, but to follow the voice within my heart.
14. I am thankful for the people who have pressed my buttons that gave rise to frustration, anger, jealousy, sadness, for you appear to remind me of the unhealed aspects of my inner being.
15. I am thankful to destiny and fate – Thank you for presenting me with good prosperity and all the great wisdom and opportunities that I have had the privilege of experiencing.
16. I am thankful to America – Thank you for the freedom of expression and for exposing me to endless opportunities, and for a chance at pursuing my dreams.
17. I am thankful for this blog – You have turned out to be an unexpected joy and an important outlet of my life. Thank you for opening the door.
18. From over the years, I am especially thankful to Shoichi Aoki’s Fruits books, Carl Jung, the Classic Rock genre, Prismacolor and mechanical pencils.
19. I am thankful to all the great masters and fathers of art who have inspired me, educated me, and shaped me to who I am today – Thank you great cinematographers, directors, filmographers, visual artists, poets and writers, musicians and composers, dancers, scientists and philosophers, psychologists and theoreticians.
20. I am thankful to the Earth and Mother Nature – Thank you for gifting us warmth and cold, and for the simple yet so gorgeous sunshine and sunsets, clouds, skies, dirt, and all Earthly elements.
21. Finally, I am thankful for the sight of ‘marginal woman’ – This at times can be a gift and a curse, but overall it is a gift of foresight which offers me the ability to render a unique vision of my own within two worlds, within my two cultures.
The more we are genuinely grateful for the blessings in our life, the more blessings will bestow us.
What are you grateful for today?
hilite head 
elaborate?