Hi, what brought you joy today? Can you think of even one thing that brought you joy today? I have to share something really special.

I have a magnetic board that I place on my refrigerator, and it has these words: what brought you joy today?

Every time I come into my house and I walk to the refrigerator, I see those words, and I pause for a minute and I think about the goodness that came into my life.

I mean, so many things are happening out there, you wouldn't believe it, but I'm sure many of you know how stressful life can be sometimes, and how things just don't seem to go the way you want them to go.

So I am trying to live a life of gratitude and to be thankful about little things that happen in my life. Well, even big things, but sometimes it's just easy to forget how lucky we are.

There are so many people out there who are sick, terminally ill.

I know someone who really is going through a tough time, having to suffer from a terrible disease, and I'm thinking about the person and the caretakers of the person and the family members involved. It really, really is sad.

I mean, my life sucks sometimes. There are some things that really, really get me so frustrated and bitter and angry and just wanting to punch the world.

But this question, what brought you joy today, makes me pause to think for one minute of that one good thing that happened to me.

Do you have anything in your house that reminds you to take a pause and be grateful for at least one thing, to count your blessings? I think there used to be a Christian song.

I'm sure there still is; there are many songs that try to make people think in the way of gratitude.

I think it was "Count Your Blessings." I'm not a good singer by any means, but I think those are the words: count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done, or something to that effect.

So the question, what brought you joy today, is a question that I have decided to answer every day before I go to sleep. Every time I look at the magnetic board on my refrigerator and I see that question, I pause to think.

Sometimes it takes me a long time, because it's kind of hard sometimes to pick the one good thing that brought me joy, because usually we take things for granted. For example, well, I went to work, I came back home.

Many people leave their houses and they never come back home. So that's one thing to celebrate. I take for granted the bodily functions: the fact that I can breathe easily. I'm not on some kind of respirator. I'm not on crutches.

I'm not suffering from some kind of debilitating disease. So those are things to be thankful for.

I'm also thankful that I made some money during the day. We're all thankful for that, that we can pay our rent. We have people who love us. We have people who call us and say hello. We have people who give us hugs.

Some people just don't have these things. So we have a bed we can sleep in at night. Some people really have insomnia. I'm a very good sleeper. The moment I hit the bed, I'm out like a light, and I love to sleep.

I love my dreams. Some people can't sleep. They're up all night, popping all sorts of pills to try to help them sleep or whatever. But me, I love to sleep, and that brings me joy. So I'm thankful for that.

So what are the things that you are thankful for? What one thing can you think about today that brought you joy?

I know some people who are constantly talking about all the negative things that happen to them, all the bad things that happen to them, and they forget to be grateful. Gratitude is just such a loving act.

It just reminds you of the goodness of the world. It causes you to not be selfish, because you're not focusing on me, me, me.

You're focusing on what is happening out there and how good life is, and how wonderful the universe is in providing for you, how good God is to you.

Really, when you think about it, one of my things is to have symbols in my environment that represent the things that I like. That's why on my refrigerator you would not find any kind of nonsensical stuff that doesn't mean anything put on there.

If I have a magnetic board or if I have a sticker or whatever, whatever I have in my house has to, for the most part, mean something to me. That's just how I'm choosing to design my life.

I mean, in the past I could do anything. I could put whatever: some things would be funny, some things would be just nonsense, Chinese takeout menus or whatever. But I don't need any of those things anymore.

I'm trying to define my life, or to create a life for myself by choice, to accommodate and support the journey that I am planning to take into my future.

So my question to you would be: what brings you joy? What brought you joy today? Take a minute, pause on that, and just reflect on your life, and see the goodness and the gratitude that is available right now. Be thankful.

And keep surrounding yourself with things that matter and make sense and bring you joy. For really, when you think about it, there really is nothing else. Just be grateful, be thankful.

So many people don't have the chance to be alive. So many people don't have the chance to experience the good things that you're experiencing.

So just take a moment and think of all the joyful things that happen to you, and be a joy to others. Stay in joy till next time. Bye.