“You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” ~Buddha
Depending on where you’re from, you may celebrate Thanksgiving today. You might get together with your family over a massive gravy-drenched feast. You might celebrate with a chosen family of friends, with traditional food, vegan fare, or a nontraditional fast food spread.
Regardless of who surrounds you today or what meal you all share together, you’ll likely reflect upon your blessings, as we tend to do at this time of year.
You might announce them as you all take turns at the table, or you might blog about them, tweet them, or simply acknowledge them mentally in a moment of silent gratitude.
There are lots of ways to do this whole appreciation thing, and just as many wonderful things to be grateful for in life.
Today, as you take time to acknowledge all the fortunate parts of your circumstances—your health, the food you eat, the freedoms you enjoy, the job that provides for you, and the people you love—I recommend taking some time to appreciate something that often goes unrecognized.
Take some time today to appreciate yourself.
I’m not talking about appreciating the miracle of life, although it’s obviously an awesome thing. I’m talking about actually appreciating all the good things you’ve done for yourself and the world.
This may seem somewhat ego-driven, but take a minute to think about how valuable your actions are, both for you and other people.
All of our relationships depend upon our relationship with ourselves. If you don’t love yourself, you can’t possibly love someone else. If you don’t respect yourself, you likely won’t make respectable choices. If you don’t value your time, you probably won’t use your time in a way you might deem valuable.
The way you treat yourself dictates how you’ll treat the world around you. So today I say we should all recognize all the good we each do each day. While rattling off physical things and conditions that we deem to be positive, we should take a moment to celebrate the person who also weathers the negative.
Here are a few things to appreciate about yourself today.
The Good Things You Do for You
1. You let yourself learn new things, which helps you grow and contribute to the world.
2. You do good things for your body, like exercising and eating healthy foods (even if not always).
3. You honor your life by making healthcare a priority.
4. You take time away from work to simply be, which allows you to feel balanced.
5. You bounce back from bad days and disappointments.
6. You do what’s right for you, even if it’s not easy to say no to other people (and even if you occasionally people-please).
7. You choose to be around people who make you feel good about yourself.
8. You work toward goals that make you feel passionate and purposeful.
9. You smile, which benefits both you and the people around you.
10. You give yourself the sleep you need to feel energized and balanced each day (even though you sometimes you don’t get enough shut eye).
The Good Things You Do for Other People
1. You have good intentions.
2. You accept people for who they are and try to keep an open mind.
3. You make people laugh, whether you have a dry humor, an acerbic wit, or a class-clown personality.
4. You listen to the people when they need an ear.
5. You’re compassionate toward other people.
6. You make selfless decisions to look out for the people you love, even if not always.
7. You forgive people when they make mistakes, even if sometimes it’s hard.
8. You vocalize it when you notice something you value, admire, or appreciate in someone else.
9. You help other people reach their potential.
10. You’re honest with people, even if sometimes vulnerability feels scary.
The Good Things You Do for the World
1. You care about your work, or something you do outside it, and you do it passionately.
2. You want to make a difference.
3. You vote to create positive change.
4. You recycle to preserve our natural resources.
5. You choose not to litter.
6. If you’re a parent, you’re shaping the next generation.
7. You give back, whether that means volunteering, donating old clothes, or simply helping a stranger in need.
8. You call for help when you see something potentially hazardous.
9. You teach something valuable to someone every day, whether you realize it or not.
10. You make positive changes in yourself—and being the change you want to see is the best way to change the world.
And one last one: You’re great, you’re wonderful, and everybody likes you. (Okay, so that one was Rodney Dangerfield, but it felt apropos!)
These ideas might not all resonate with you, but I’m sure the majority are true. Today, as you take inventory of all the things you appreciate, remember that you play a prominent role on many other people’s lists.
One final request: because you are that valuable person who does so many good things in the world, I would appreciate knowing you. It’s a funny thing running a blog. I know there are thousands of people reading, and yet there are so many people who have never commented.
I do this to connect with you. Knowing you makes it all worthwhile.
Say hello in the comments if you get a chance, and share a little something about you. I’d be grateful to make your acquaintance!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
*Update: Since I wrote this post, I launched a gratitude journal/coloring book that people seem to be really enjoying! If you’re interested, you can learn more here.
About Lori Deschene
Lori Deschene is the founder of Tiny Buddha. She started the site after struggling with depression, bulimia, c-PTSD, and toxic shame so she could recycle her former pain into something useful and inspire others to do the same. You can find her books, including Tiny Buddha’s Gratitude Journal and Tiny Buddha’s Worry Journal, here and learn more about her eCourse, Recreate Your Life Story, if you’re ready to transform your life and become the person you want to be.
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Though I run this site, it is not mine. It's ours. It's not about me. It's about us. Your stories and your wisdom are just as meaningful as mine. 
[…] If you haven’t read them already check out yesterday’s post 7 Ways to Create Thanksgiving Every Day, and my latest post 30 Things to Appreciate About You. […]
Well you know who I am :p
But I’ll say ‘hi’ to everyone nonetheless *waves* and wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving from across the pond.
Sam
Hello! I’m from Spain and even thought I don’t understand everything in english (there are always some words that I don’t know…) I’m really grateful for having found your blog! It’s just totally awesome and inspires me everyday. So get a warm “hola” from Spain 🙂 Gracias!
Thank you!
I just wanted to say Hello! And thank you so much for your website. I recently started reading it a few weeks ago after randomly searching on the web for things to appreciate in life (seemed desperate I suppose), knowing subconsciously that there were many things, yet for whatever reason I had been struggling to keep them present in my mind during the past few months due to emotional situations.
I ended up finding so many articles that were eye-opening for me, and I passed many on to other friends and family. I am also a writer for a website, but more news related rather than looking at inner parts of life that if looked over can be extremely consequential. Remembering to appreciate ourselves is a prime example.
Thank you so much again! I love the website…reading it every morning on my cell phone 😉
– Celine
It’s serendipitous that I found your post today because this morning I made a decision to appreciate myself, to focus on myself and what’s important to me. I’m spending my day writing Thanksgiving emails and making phone calls to my friend and family. I almost spent the day with strangers because a friend insisted that I shouldn’t be alone on a holiday. But I don’t feel alone or lonely. In fact, I feel very joyful and grateful today, and your post has given me more to appreciate about myself. Thank you!
It’s serendipitous that I found your post today because this morning I made a decision to appreciate myself, to focus on myself and what’s important to me. I’m spending my day writing Thanksgiving emails and making phone calls to my friend and family. I almost spent the day with strangers because a friend insisted that I shouldn’t be alone on a holiday. But I don’t feel alone or lonely. In fact, I feel very joyful and grateful today, and your post has given me more to appreciate about myself. Thank you!
HI Lori
I have started reading Tiny Buddha only recently and have it set as my homepage 🙂 I appreciate everyone’s posts and the quotes as well. It’s inspiring to read and comforting that others are going through similar situations. Thanks to all of you for taking the time to inspire and encourage others! Happy Thanksgiving!
Hello, and thank you, Lori. I appreciate you and your good works in this world. You are an inspiration!
Hello, and thank you, Lori. I appreciate you and your good works in this world. You are an inspiration!
Reading this post brightened my day. Right now I’m a New Yorker studying abroad in Spain, and though I’m not doing anything extravagant for Thanksgiving, I’m thankful that I found people here who I connect with and trust and have fun with every day. I also appreciate how much I’ve let myself open up and grow. I’m thankful for learning to love myself a little more each day 🙂
Hi, Thank you for your blog! One thing I thought about being grateful about is how being kind comes so naturally to me. I know for some it really isn’t easy and I always send my blessings out to them that they might feel more love and kindness from others.
Beautiful post, Lori! You always help me keep a good perspective. Have a blessed Thanskgiving!
Hello Lori,
Hello and happy to meet you. I absolutely love your daily articles and rarely, if ever, miss reading one. Your messages seem to come at a time when it’s exactly what I need. I am very grateful for your wisdom, your beautiful way with words, your generosity. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Rose from Ohio
I thank you for creating this amazing blog that brings light to my life. Keep up with the good work that has made a change in my life and I’m sure that I’m not the only one. Thank you…
I thank you for creating this amazing blog that brings light to my life. Keep up with the good work that has made a change in my life and I’m sure that I’m not the only one. Thank you…
I thank you for creating this amazing blog that brings light to my life. Keep up with the good work that has made a change in my life and I’m sure that I’m not the only one. Thank you…
I loved this! Thank you! I connected very well to what you wrote as I try to be that person everyday. Not because it’s “cool” but because it’s who I am! Loveeeed it so! Thank you & Happy Thanksgiving to you! Kathy aka Raok Raven! <3
I’ve enjoyed your blog ever since a friend sent me a link a few months ago. Today’s post made me smile as I initially thought “how can someone I don’t know know 30 good things about me?” The list was a great reminder of how much we have in common just by being human. Thank you for your excellent and inspirational blog! –Catherine
Today I’m having Thanksgiving with my parents; my sister and her family; and my lover. We’ll be crowded around my parents’ kitchen table and the spread will resemble one from Real Simple magazine. My mother takes pride in the comfort of her home and it’s well-deserved.
Where I live (which is also where this celebration is taking place) is in Northern Maine. As northern as you can get actually! In the town of Frenchville, we can look across the Saint John River and see Canada. Not off in the distance, not a speck on the horizon – it’s right there. I can see the color of the shutters on another nation’s home. It’s interesting; Canadians don’t celebrate Thanksgiving today (they celebrate it on our Columbus Day).
I am thankful for many things and I am grateful that I read this post today. It’s easy to forget that so many people are in our lives because of how we’ve lived them. Thanks for the insight. Happy Thanksgiving to you!
I just came across your tweet stream and your blog recently. Thank you for striking a chord in mu life.
Thank you first of all to you for creating such an amazing blog full of beautiful intentions and optimism and to my friend for sending me your link! I needed to hear your words today on a day that I have so much to be thankful for as I celebrate everyday all that is good and difficult in life. When my troubles run deep I search words of wisdom, love and kindness in your posts. I struggle like anyone else and it’s serendipitous that you chose today to blog about appreciating one self too! I’m thankful for what I have and for what I don’t have!! My abundance of love runeth over and I wish to share that with the world by creating an environment of appreciation and honesty! Thank you again and may everyone be inspired by your words!
Thank you so much. I enjoy your blog immensely. Btw, I’m Christie: mother to five precious children, I home school them all, and we’re from US.:)
[…] http://dev.tinybuddha.com/blog/30-things-to-appreciate-about-you/ […]
I was inspired by http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com to start my own blog – I started http://moderncountrylady.blogspot.com about a month ago ( it’s about interior decorating from finds, freebies and craft ) ,and then also linked up more to Twitter and found your blog which I think is absolutely great.You are so right that more people read a blogpost then comment on it- that remark really spoke to me :-))
I notice this myself when I have a high amount of pageviews but not the same amount of comments!! it always makes me wonder when people decide to comment or not, and why..!!The ideas you discuss in this post certainly resonate with me ,maybe because I am now blogging about something that I am passionate , I am more aware of things !!
Happy blogging and keep on doing your great blog-!!!
XX
Bea
Hello. I just wanted to thank you for your blog, it makes life a little better for a lot of people.
Hello. I just wanted to thank you for your blog, it makes life a little better for a lot of people.
I found TinyBuddha a few weeks or months ago (time has been crazy lately), and am so grateful for it. It reiterates my own thoughts and feelings and every post has been great! I have had a hard struggle to get to where I am now. I finally feel like I can be “me” without worrying about what others think (for the most part), and be proud of who I am, and do things to make myself happy. I do feel really lonely around the holidays though, so I appreciate this post even more. I do not have a family, and about to turn 40, so I am starting to accept that that’ll never happen for me. I am working today for the firs Thanksgiving in many, many years, but I am grateful for this new job that I love and am out of the last one which was sucking the life out of me. Happy Thanksgiving to you, TinyBuddha and thank you soooooo very much for your words of wisdom!!! 😉
Thank you, Lori! I live in central Europe where Thanksgiving Day isn’t commonly celebrated. However I feel especially grateful today and even more now after having read your words.
Hi from the Czech Republic. You have readers here too. Thanks for your site.
Katerina
This is a lovely reminder to take of myself so that I am able to take care of others.
Hey Lori, really nice read!! Thank you…tinybuddha is awesome. Always something useful for me in every post.
So great to see this, especially because I’m spending Thanksgiving with myself this year. I am so thankful for other people in my life, but most importantly, I’m thankful that I’ve learned to love ME! This blog always speaks to me at the right moment.
Happy holidays!
Thankyou for your site which is really uplifting and useful, I live in the UK and read regularly :). Even when I can be grateful about nothing else about myself, I am grateful that I never stop trying to be better! 🙂
Thank you for sharing! So often after I blog and chose my quotes and words of the day to focus on – that when I read yours that there is a sense of dejavue! So often the topics are similar and you give me the sense that I am on the right path due to the synchronisity I feel! Thank you for sharing, I am grateful for Tiny Buddah!!!
Thanks for this. My name is Mai and I live in Singapore. I follow you on twitter and I just want you to know that you enrich my heart and mind and life. Thank you for all that you are.
hello i’m from Austria and i like your Blog 🙂
Thank you so much for the wisdom you share… Yours is a positive perspective on our life…
Thank you Lori for the inspiration all the time. 😀
This has been part of my life’s philosophy for a while now and it is awesome to see someone else put it into words. I’ve learned to love myself more as I’ve grown older and it is definitely true that if you don’t take care of yourself first, how are you supposed to take care of/ love someone else.
Great blog 🙂 Keep up the inspirational work!
Hi Ami,
I know exactly what you mean! There are times when I feel totally happy on my own, doing my own thing. And then there are times when I want to be surrounded by other people. I think it’s a very good thing to be able to find a balance. Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you had a wonderful day!
Lori
Thanks Rose. Always nice to see your smiling face =)
You are most welcome, and thank you for being a part of the community here. I appreciate that. =)
Hi Tom! It’s a pleasure to e-meet you =)
That sounds like a beautiful Thanksgiving! I didn’t spend the day with my family, but I am looking forward to a similar experience around Christmas. My grandmother lives in a tiny apartment, and dozens of us crowd around the table despite the space limitations. Christmas Eve is always one of my favorite days of the year just because we are all together–in all of our Italian loudness. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Lori
Hi Mai! It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for saying hi =)
Hi Celine!
I’m so glad you enjoy Tiny Buddha. I also write for a number of websites, and I started this site to express the things I didn’t get to communicate through my other writing. I always appreciate that other people are happy to open their hearts and share their insights through the blog posts they submit/the comments they leave here.
I hope you had a beautiful day =)
Lori
Happy Holidays to you, as well! I love that feeling when I can tell other people in different places, dealing with different circumstances can relate to the exact same things I am thinking. I appreciate your comment. Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Darina,
Thanks for the comment! I’m so glad you enjoy Tiny Buddha, and I hope you’ve enjoyed the day =)
Lori
Fantastic Ruth! That was my intention, and I think writing this helped me carry the idea with me throughout the day.