With the New Year upon us, there is always a lot to be grateful for. For some of us, the holidays are not the easiest time of the year. We see others celebrating with families and we may not have our families in our lives. We see old friends going out and drinking with an impunity that we ourselves do not have. It is always easier to be grateful for what we have when things are going our way and we are getting what we want. However, finding something to be grateful for always seems to have a way of getting us out of a bad mood, out of sadness, and even help combat crippling feelings of fear. Even the tiniest bit of gratitude for simple things we do have and the positive changes we are experiencing can greatly affect our overall perspective on life and our future. By choosing to find gratitude for the little things in life that we normally take for granted, we are able to choose peace and serenity over fear and sadness.“Lack of power, that was our dilemma.” Through working the 12 Steps we find a new power. A power of choice. We have the power to choose to not let feelings of despair consume us. Our minds are phantoms, drifting into the future to find fear, retreating into the past to find guilt. With our newfound power of choice, we choose to stay in the moment and stay grateful for all the blessing in our life, no matter how small they are. We have gained a control over how we look at life and, with a little practice and gratitude, we can always find the beauty in the world around us.