As we go through the days of our lives, there are moments and periods where we all struggle. You know, when things are just not going right whether it be financial, relationships, depression, or loneliness, etc. Often times around the holidays like Christmas people get depressed. Create some alone time and look at all the things in your life that you do have and that you are, and should, indeed be grateful for.
You may be grateful for your good family, your beautiful children, for the job you have, or for your good health. You may be grateful for happiness that nature brings you. You may be grateful that you woke up that day! Whatever it is, be grateful. Each and every day acknowledge what you are grateful for. This can be as simple as the pleasure you had from eating a slice of pizza, or that strong cup of coffee in the morning. Things will change in your feeling world when you have an attitude of gratitude. There is always something in our lives big or small that we can have appreciation for, simple yet true.
A wide range of material is available on this subject. I worked in a program with a coach named Lee Brower in Chicago about ten years ago, and he shares a nice little story that sheds light on the power of an attitude of gratitude in the book and full-length movie called “The Secret.”
Gratitude, in many ways, can help you to achieve success. It is also a way to help one put things into perspective so it is not just about “I, me, mine” and puts selfishness where it belongs (out of the picture all together). Also, when we fall on hard times or experience some tragedy or when we are affected by the worldly events which wear and tear us down (knowingly or unknowingly), gratitude helps you appreciate every moment and every good thing in life.Gratitude can help open up your heart, and when this happens many new doors and opportunities seem to arrive daily at the doorstep of your life.
What I have observed about gratitude is that it changes your perspective about life. You are able to be thankful for the beauty that surrounds you. We shift how we operate in life away from the human and more from the spirit within – from perhaps being an unaware, unloving, reactive, and ungrateful garden variety grown human being, to an aware, kind, productive, and grateful spiritual being. Gratitude helps to set us on a much needed course correction and helps to put us on a path of a more purposeful and meaningful life. And this, my friend, is critical as this leads to more contentment, which is a component of happiness. And since happiness seems to be the goal of life, I would consider gratitude as an important step to achieving happiness.
Each day I strive to practice an attitude of gratitude and again, we are creatures of habit so to speak. Change your habits – change your life!
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