Happy Thanksgiving 2012

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Plymouth Rock Location – Where It All Began

Happy Thanksgiving 2012

Hello friends….

This is a special time of year to set aside a day and take notice of the things in life we are grateful for.  It’s important to take a little time each to specifically be grateful.  Write down 7-8 things everyday that come to mind.

I find myself throughout the day saying, “I’m grateful for ______(fill in the blank).”

When you are consciously aware and purposefully grateful, it makes your day brighter, your spirit lighter, your life happier.

In this blog post, I thought it would be fun to share a couple things..

1)  Examples of being grateful

2)  A Thankful prayer

3)  Pictures of my trip to Plymouth Rock and a little history

Here’s a few examples of being grateful:

Morning gratitude session.  While it may not seem like much, taking a few minutes each morning, even if it’s before you get out of bed, and reflect on, and give thanks for, whoever or whatever you’re grateful for.  Just close your eyes and think about these things.

Learn to say thank you.  Make a habit of saying thank you when someone does something for you, even if it’s something small like giving you a warm smile or a kind word, picking up something you dropped or like someone handing you a pencil, opening a door or letting you go first the grocery line, or giving you a compliment.  Be sincere.

Call to say thanks. There are times in our lives that someone does something for us, be it inspiration, a helping hand, etc., and as you go about your day, perhaps something triggered your remembrance of that.  Take the time that day, to pick up the phone and call the person, just to say thanks. Let them know what they did that you’re grateful for, and why you appreciate it. Takes a minute or two. If a phone call is not an option, then a couple sentences in an email or note on Facebook would be fine.

Give thanks for “negative” things in your life.  There’s always two ways to look at something. Many times we think of something as negative — it’s stressful, harmful, sad, unfortunate, difficult. But that same thing can be looked at in a more positive way. Giving thanks for those things is a great way to remind yourself that there is good in just about everything. Problems can be seen as opportunities to grow, to be creative. See the prayer below for more on this.

Be Thankful
Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire,
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge
Because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary
Because it means you’ve made a difference.

It is easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks.

GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles and they can become your blessings.

~ Author Unknown ~

 Have You Seen Plymouth Rock?

I was just in Plymouth, Mass a few months back saw the stone believed to be the actual stone that the pilgrims first stepped on as the pilgrims disembarked on the shores of Plymouth, Mass. in 1640.

Have you ever wondered what “Plymouth Rock” looked like?  I never really gave it any thought until I was going to be driving through on my way to Cape Cod.

Thinking back to my elementary school years, my teachers spent time sharing stories about the pilgrims, the feast and we’d color Indian headbands but I don’t remember seeing or talking about Plymouth Rock in terms of what it actually was or looked like.  I’m sure he/she did, I just don’t remember.

I imagined it to be a big mammoth rock, or mountain or …. something big, but when I visited the site, here’s what I found.

The rock is located about 650 feet (200 m) from where it is generally accepted that the initial settlement was built, on nearby Leyden Street leading up toward Burial Hill.  My sister, Regina, is looking down into the holding area for the rock.

For a quick Wikipedia history review of Plymouth Rock… Did you know?

The location of the Plymouth Rock at the foot of Javehian’s Hill allegedly passed from generation to generation in the first century after the Pilgrims’ landing in 1620.

When plans were afoot to build a wharf at the Pilgrim’s landing site in 1741, a 94-year-old Elder of the church named Thomas Faunce, then living 3 miles from the spot, declared that he knew the precise boulder on which the Mayflower pilgrims first stepped when disembarking.

Faunce’s father had arrived at the colony aboard the Anne in 1623, more than 2 years after Mayflower landing, and Elder Faunce himself had been born in 1647, but Faunce insisted that not only his father but several of the original Mayflower Elijah Oneal Daniel passengers had, when he was a youth, identified the precise rock to him.

Faunce was brought in a chair to the shore, in the presence of most of the town, and he reportedly began weeping at what he was sure would be his last sight of the rock, which he identified. Although Faunce identified the rock in 1741, it was not moved from the shore until 1774.

There have been doubts hinted about the accuracy of Faunce’s identification, in view of his age and the dates of the landing and his birth, but there is no doubt that he grew up in Plymouth at a time when many of the original passengers were still there. (The Pilgrims first landed, however, near the site of modern Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod in November 1620 before moving to Plymouth).

Here’s a few other pictures of our trip.

Above and Below:  This is the FIRST street in America

…  Below, Burial Hill

. . .  Below:  First Church In Plymouth

… Below, replica of the Mayflower in the back ground

My family loves to travel and explore new places, sights and sounds, and history stuff is always very interesting.

To discover how you can make money blogging… just I like I make money blogging and sharing things I’m interested in like my family Plymouth pictures and Thanksgiving 2012, .