GRATITUDE
Here’s a challenge: for the next 14 days, begin each morning by writing down eight things you are grateful for in your life. Why eight things you ask? Simple! For the first eight hours of your day, whether at work or at home, focus on one gratitude per hour. If you will do this exercise with a spouse, trusted friend, or co-worker, it will double the blessings. You will also be amazed at how fast your day will go because of the underlying sense of gratitude. You will respond to people better, you will handle challenges more creatively, and you’ll smile a lot more often.
Whom are you grateful to have in your life? Do these people realize the extent of your gratitude?
What are you grateful to have in your life? Do you regularly remember how blessed you are?
Gratitude makes your fears disappear and the blessings re-appear.
When my children were my responsibility living under my roof, I told them on a regular basis, “If you don’t have something to be grateful for, make up your minds there is something wrong with you!”
Gratitude is an attitude – it is a philosophy – it is a way of life. It is the way we were intended to live.
When we have a total understanding of gratitude, things aren’t colored by stress, inconvenience, obstacles, or set-backs. We accept all of these as a part of the process and understand the pot at the end of the rainbows is filled with peace, understanding, hope, confidence, and stability.
Gratitude turns a crappy hour into contagious minutes. Gratitude turns a burden into a blessing.
Gratitude turns a heap into hope and with gratitude, you stop hoping and you start hopping.
Gratitude is the difference-maker, the deal-maker, the confidence builder and it is the energizer. It turns problems into gifts and the interruptions in our lives become purpose-filled moments.
We live at a time when we have so much and act as though we have so little. Our garages are full, our closets are overflowing, our “stuff” quotient is off the charts and yet tomorrow, we’ll buy more.
May I suggest that when we begin our day with an attitude of gratitude, we’ll appreciate the journey, learn the lessons, and live abundantly in the process.
Gratitude, is one of the best medicines, maybe prescriptions, you’ll never buy. In the assignment of 14 days and 8 hours, we’ll discover how full and rich our lives are every day. And if you already know that fact, it will serve as a good reminder.
Gratitude is a daily commitment. When we fill ourselves daily with gratitude, we’ll have something meaningful to give to others. It will be a double blessing and a reminder of that ageless truth, it’s more blessed to give than receive.
And these are just my thoughts on a Tuesday morning.
Steve Siemens, CSP
The People Builder
