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Cultivate the Gratitude Attitude "You simply will not be the same person two months from now afterconsciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists inyour life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law:the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be givenyou."-- Sarah Ban Breathnach ~ Simple Abundance
One of the quickest way to make the shift from being negative, resentful,angry, victimized to being positive, compassionate, empowered, is throughgratitude. When you truly feel grateful for what you have in your life (andI'm not referring to just the material things), it's almost impossible to dwellon the negative feelings. In fact, scientists have found that feeling gratefulproduces the feel-good chemicals in your brain, the same chemicals thatreduce stress, lesson pain and improve your immune functions. Beinggrateful puts you in a totally different mindset and energy level, andenables you to look at your life & current circumstances from a morepositive perspective. As a result, you will feel more in control andempowered to take action and make both inner & outer changes in your life.I'm sure you have had experiences in the past that you thought was THEworst thing that could happen to you, and it turned out to be a blessing indisguise. We all have experiences like that. In fact, all the negative or eventragic experiences we had, served a purpose. As human beings, we aremeant to continuously grow and transcend ourselves. All the challenges wehave are there to stretch us and force us to learn and to grow. If we can seethis truth, and recognize all the blessings in disguise that we have allexperienced in the past, we will have this "inner knowing" that everythingwill work out in the end, that the Universe is loving, even though we may ormay not see the "master plan" right now. And that "inner knowing" gives ustremendous comfort and security, doesn't it?If you can
consciously
focus your energy on gratitude, and
actively
lookfor things/people to be grateful for, you will reap the benefits on multiplelevels:
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 You will instantly feel calmer, more joyful, and centered
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According to the Law of Attraction, you will attract even moreabundance, joy and other things you'd be grateful for into your life
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 You will take comfort in the inner knowing that "all is well" andeverything will work out in the end, despite your current challengesand circumstancesSo, how do you cultivate the gratitude attitude? Here are some actionexercises you can try:
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When you are in a negative, challenging situation, instead of trying torun away & avoid the experience, make a conscious choice to be fullypresent and look for the blessings, lessons and opportunities (to learn& to grow).
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"Top Three Things"
exercise: as you go through your day, make amental list of the 3 best things that happen to you today. Whensomething else better shows up, modify your list and keep track of thetop 3 things for the day. If you keep a journal, you might want to writedown your list at the end of the day, so you can refer back to your journal in the future. Do this exercise for at least a week. This exercisetrains your mind to consciously and actively look for the blessings inyour life. Focus on finding "what's going right" instead of following ourtendency to focus on "what's going wrong". I'm sure you will find newappreciation & outlook for your life. Thanksgiving is coming up, and it's the perfect time to focus on gratitude.Why not make a commitment to try out these action challenges, and seehow they can change your life.
Gratitude & Appreciation
Everyone enjoys being recognized and appreciated for the small things. Taking the time to acknowledge and appreciate others sets you up toexperience even more positive experiences. Commit to incorporating one of the following suggestions everyday.Hi-tech suggestions:Have you seen the TV commercial with the family sitting around the dinnertable text messaging each other? Looks silly and I am surprised at howpopular that activity is. My thought is, "why not just call?"If you are into text messaging, why not send messages of gratitude andappreciation. Catch someone in the act of doing something nice or helpful. This is especially useful if you have kids and want to stay in touch withthem in a positive and uplifting way.If you have an answering machine, most have a way to record a message.Look for the memo button and record your message of appreciation forsomeone to "discover" when he or she arrives home.Low-tech suggestions:Post a calendar on the refrigerator and commit to writing down daily whatyou love, appreciate or admire about the people in your family. It is a funactivity to get the whole family involved in.Use post-it-notes and place "gratitude notes" where your loved one will findit...on their pillow, in their wallet or purse, on the steering wheel, etc.
Attitude of Gratitude
by:
Steve Gillman
 
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An attitude of gratitude? People often to think it will come from having somegreat luck or fortune. Of course it could feel great to win the lottery, andgreat friends, money, houses, travel - these are all good things, but notenough by themselves. The right frame of mind is necessary to fully enjoylife. You need the attitude of gratitude.Gratitude 101 Your life is better when you feel blessed, when you can look around and say"Thank you, God," or "Thank you universe." Whether or not you arereligious, when you see life as a wonderful gift, your experience is a richerone. Imagine going through life like you're a child, and every morning isChristmas.Of course, it is easy to think that gratitude comes from having what wewant. We might imagine ourselves giving thanks if we had money, a lovingfamily, and maybe a house on the beach. But we know there are ungrateful,unhappy people with these things. We also know that there are poor peoplefull of gratitude for what little they have, so where does this feeling comefrom?Creating GratitudeAn attitude of gratitude arises from how you look at things. It is the naturalfeeling that comes when you recognize the real value of the people andthings in your life. Focus on the good and you cannot help but have a betterattitude and experience of life. Gratitude, then, is something you canencourage, something you can learn. The first step is to stop and smell the roses. How can you be thankful forsomething you don't notice or enjoy? By the way, roses really do smellgreat. The second step is to make this appreciative approach to roses and life ahabit. You don't need to ignore the ugliness in the world. Just consciouslychoose to see the good and beautiful things, until doing so becomesautomatic.One way to encourage this habit is to start writing down every positivething that happens to you, and all the things you like. Continue this untilyou start automatically seeing the good things in life. If you've ever boughta white car, and started seeing white cars all over, you know howawareness and focus can alter your perception of reality. In the same way,once you are aware of the good, and start looking for it, you'll start to seewonderful things all over.Simple exercises like the one above train your mind with time. When youare in the habit of "counting your blessings," gratitude, and a much richerexperience of life is the natural result. You will have an attitude of gratitude.
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