Who and what are you thankful for?

Every month here at True Balance Karate, we have a character word of the month. Our character program is called True Character.

This month we are talking about thankfulness. Thankfulness means “I am glad for all I have.”

This week, we’re going to ask the question: Who and what are we thankful for?

Attitude of gratitude

We talked all about thankfulness these past couple of weeks, and we talked about how a big part of thankfulness is having an attitude of gratitude.

We want to have thankfulness be something that we are — something that we do all the time without even thinking about it.

It’s kind of like when you walk into your room, you flip the light switch on without even thinking about it. If somebody does something nice for you, you say, “thank you” back to them. Without even thinking about it, you want to have that attitude of gratitude.

Last week, we also talked about different ways we can show thankfulness for others. We discussed sending them cards, using our talents, giving them a hug — all kinds of different ways we can show that we’re thankful.

So now we’re going to talk about who we are thankful for in life. Who in your life are you really thankful for?

Who I’m thankful for

I’ll go over a few for me.

I’m thankful for Master H. I’m thankful for Master H for putting up with me and working with me in the studio full time. I’m thankful for my kids. I’m thankful that my kids are with me and that they’re such awesome, great people.

I’m thankful for everyone who works here at True Balance Karate (TBK). I’m thankful for Ms. Lola and Mrs. Bush. I’m thankful for Gaba. I’m thankful for Ms. Dawn. I’m thankful for all of our team black belts that come in here and help in class.

I’m really thankful here at TBK for all of you. I’m very thankful for all of our students. I’m thankful that you trusted us to come in here and learn. I’m thankful that you’ve taken up our great art, and that you’ve dedicated to getting to black belt in this art.

I’m thankful that you come here and you give us your time — something that’s the most precious thing in the world. We can’t buy any extra time, right? You come here and you decided to give your time and share some of it with us.

I’m thankful for all of the parents of our students that come in and bring them here. I’m thankful for all of the things that I have in my life. I’m thankful for our cars. I’m thankful for our home. I’m thankful for our studio.

I’m thankful, especially, for our dogs. Some of you know that. I’m thankful for our puppies — that they’re happy dogs that greet me every time I come home, even if I’ve had a bad day. Even if I wasn’t able to see them all day, I’m thankful that they’re always there to greet me.

Who in your life are you thankful for?

Are you thankful for your parents? How about your friends? Are you thankful that your friends are there for you? How about your teachers? Have you said thank you to your teachers lately? That’s somebody that gives quite a bit for you.

Have you said thank you to the people that make you your food when you go out to eat? Have you said thank you to the janitor at school that cleans the tables after lunch?

Have you said thank you to one of the black belts here at TBK for coming in and helping you out? Have you said thank you to a partner in class when you work together and have fun and learn something?

Let’s make sure that we are always thankful for all those people around us.

That’s our word of the month, thankfulness.

We will see everybody on the mat.
– Master Helsdon