This is the time of year when we are expected, almost commanded to be thankful. And we wish we could feel excited and full of gratitude 24/7. However, there are times we just have a hard time feeling it. Maybe we've been let down by someone we thought was there for us. Maybe the world gets in the way and financial problems overwhelm us. Maybe the physical just isn't what we expect. Maybe we feel alone in a crowd. Or maybe we are just so stressed and so completely tired we have trouble feeling anything at all.

I don't know about you, but I've been in all those places. Yes, even on our mission where one could expect maybe a little more “help”, I've felt deflated and lost and very, very tired.

Yet we are told, 'Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things' (D&C 59:7). All things means just that: good things, difficult things--not just some things. He has commanded us to be grateful because He knows being grateful will make us happy.

When you are in a sincere state of gratitude your energy is one of acceptance and harmony. Expressing Gratitude for any situation draws you to more of what you are expressing gratitude for.Any time we are not expressing gratitude we are in essence, focusing on NOT WANTING that outcome. Whenever we do that, we naturally move towards what we are focused on.

Athletes practice mentally, actors envision their role, what we think becomes what we do. Why then, don't we preprogram our minds for success?

You are the one who thinks your thoughts. Your thoughts do not think you. Our Father gave us Choice and Accountability. It is up to us to fill our thoughts with the positive.

Our perception of something going wrong is just that, a perception, and that is all. It may be a misguided perception based on a lack of understanding or on false beliefs. In the bigger scheme of things, in God's perspective, Nothing EVER goes “wrong”. God does not make mistakes. He is not “out to get someone.” He does not have it in for anyone because they are bad. His creation is perfect and the goal of His creation never wavers. It is, has been, and always will be perfect, precise, and unfailing ALL the time. It is only when our wrong perceptions stir up emotions that attract circumstances that you perceive life as“going wrong.”

It is important that you express and recognize gratitude for the fact that everything in your life is a miracle and you are part of the creation of your life. Perception becomes personal "fact" and may be quite different from actual fact. We have the ability to change our perceptions and aline our facts to be more what we need them to be. If we look as a day "lost and horrible" because we have some disappointment in our plans it is only our perspective that is off.

Obviously your perception that everything is wrong and the whole day lost is not right. However, based on your thought pattern and perception, the day is lost. Unless you are able to change that perception, you will have a horrible day. In fact, if you remain in this state, you will literally attract additional events, conditions and circumstances to you that will make certain that you have a horrible day. You may even pick a fight with the next person who has the audacity to speak to you. This is a classic case of ungratefulness. No silver lining.

God loves each of us unconditionally exactly the same and only gives us what we are asking for based on our frame of mind. The scriptures say, “As you sow, so shall you reap.” That applies to daily life. By learning to control our emotions and show gratitude every, single day we attract situations where gratitude is more easily felt. We can't control everything that is going on around us in our world but we can control our mind and our perceptions. We control how we react to the things that happen.

As Gordon B. Hinckley said in August of 1982, “Our society is afflicted by a spirit of thoughtless arrogance unbecoming those who have been so magnificently blessed. How grateful we should be for the bounties we enjoy. Absence of gratitude is the mark of the narrow, uneducated mind. It bespeaks a lack of knowledge and the ignorance of self-sufficiency. It expresses itself in ugly egotism.”

Make this holiday season what God would want it to be. Look for the blessings in each day. Aline your thinking with that of the Father who loves us all and to whom we dedicate this time of year.