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The Power of
Gratitude
I am grateful to have discovered the Power of Gratitude. I
started really studying the power of gratitude over five years
ago. I practiced saying "I am grateful for xxxxx." When I
first heard myself say this over and over each day, my mind
would react by saying "you're not grateful for that." It was
uncomfortable. Gratitude is not practiced everywhere. Mostly
it is not spoken out loud. Test this for yourself. Try saying
what you are grateful for out loud at work today. Try it at
the lunch table. Test it with clients. Try it at home this
morning or at the dinner table. See the reaction of others for
yourself.
Toni Stone says, "A grateful heart attracts great things."
I have proven this to myself over the last five or six years.
It works.
As I write this I am thinking of November 13th 2002... as I
was loaded into an ambulance in Waltham, MA. The EMTs asked me
"how are you doing?" and I replied, "I am not sure how my body
is doing" and "I am grateful for this and for you"... I
remember the look in their eyes, it said, "this guy needs a
shrink." I am sure that they were thinking "how could anyone
be grateful for this?"
Little did I know then that it was the beginning of a 100
day hospital stay and six months out of work. I was grateful
for it then and I am grateful for that event in my life now.
That event was the beginning of a whole new life, more
satisfying and joyous than I could have imagined.
What if I had been bitter for that whole event? Imagine how
long that odyssey would have seemed.
Gratitude makes space for allowing the moment or the person
to be as they are. Can you change it or them anyway? Gratitude
calms the spirit. Gratitude makes one more peaceful and others
are attracted by that energy. They want to be around someone
like that.
Being grateful brings joy as you can accept each moment as
it is and even see the gift that others might call "awful or
unpleasant."
How does one become more grateful or grateful at all?
Practice saying what you are grateful for throughout the
day. Let yourself hear YOU saying it over and over. Feel what
it feels like. Notice your reactions. Stick with it,
especially if you feel resistance. It took me almost three
months of saying and writing what I was grateful for before I
started to really feel grateful most of the time.
Write down what you are grateful for. From time to time I
write 1000 things that I am grateful for. It helps me to see
the beauty in the mundane. It helps to be grateful for the
things or people that bug me. I can see the gift.
Try it. Don't take my word for it. Stick with it for a year
or two and record what you begin to attract in your life.
What would a bitter heart attract? Imagine the two energies
in your own body. Bitterness and then Gratitude. Which one
feels better to you?
I am grateful that you read this, if you got this far.
Trust me, many did not.
If you did, I know that you are grateful too, even if your
mind is saying "don’t listen to this guy, you are not
grateful."
Disregard that voice, tell it that you are running the show
and you are grateful.
Gratefully yours,
Steve |
