GRATITUDE

Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting your energy and bringing more of what you want into your life.  Be grateful for what you already have and you will attract more good things.  –The Secret

Gratitude is closely related to the energy of creation.  When we focus on gratitude, everything positive begins to grow and expand.  –The Gratitude Experiment

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you" that would be enough. -Meister Eckhart

  

It is not happy people who are thankful...it is thankful people who are happy.  If you focus on gratitude, your life will shift.  Many people do not understand that gratitude is not a feeling just created by circumstance, privilege, or luck - being grateful is a CHOICE!  We all go through adversity and times of turbulence, but focusing on all the blessings you have will bring you out of those places faster than feeling bitter, angry, and resentful.    

Joshua Rosenthal from the Huffington Post sums it up well, “Gratitude is the practice of noticing and appreciating the positives in the world – particularly in your own personal world.”  Living with an “attitude of gratitude” has even been linked to better sleep, deeper relationships, less anxiety, and even better health.  Sounds simple, but why don’t we all make this a ritual we perform each day?  We need to be intentional and make gratitude a habit. Building our life on the foundation of gratitude is the ignition that starts our car that will drive us to our destination of true happiness.  Let me say it again, everything starts by giving thanks and relishing in what you have.

Many people believe that they need to achieve success first and then they will find happiness.  Land that job; find that spouse, get that promotion, make that MONEY!  Harvard researchers, including Shawn Anchor, author of The Happiness Advantage, found that this paradigm is actually false.  Through researching thousands of people, Anchor and colleagues found that when happiness and gratitude come first...success arrives much faster and is sustained much longer than the latter.

I've had the privilege to listen to Shawn Anchor live...he's very funny and VERY HAPPY

I've tried to put this mindset into play each day and its been life changing.  Everyday I wake up, even before I open my eyes, I spend 1 to 2 minutes thanking God for all the many blessings I have in my life.  When I wake up and get ready in the morning, I spend time thinking about all the amazing things I have to be thankful for – my family, my health, my job, my house, etc.  I encourage you to try this, and make it one of your daily habits for the next 30 days.  This small practice has transformed my view of the world, and helped me see all the beauty around me - I hope you see the same. 

30 Days of Gratitude and Service daily practice…for the next 30 days, 
do these two things everyday:

1.       Create a “Thankful Journal” and write down what you are thankful for and why (use your notes section in your phone or use a paper journal)

2.       Tell someone how thankful you are for them in person, via phone, text, email, Facebook, etc.

Once you make this a daily habit, you are well on your way to rising to a higher level of satisfaction, excitement for life, and most importantly, happiness.

In everything, give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. - 1 Thessalonians 5:18  

Come back later this week - I'll be diving into service.