Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. Consider how simple it is for life to fly by…getting caught up in the rat race, being stuck in our daily routines sprinkled with a vacation or two if we’re lucky enough and all for the sake of just getting through another day. After a while it can get to the point where we’re left feeling unfulfilled, leaving us scratching our heads trying to figure out what we’re missing. That’s when having an attitude of gratitude comes in! By incorporating an attitude of gratitude into our lives, it opens up a whole new world that changes everything. It’s an exercise in positive thinking and gratitude that needs to be practiced frequently. Despite what some may think, it doesn’t mean putting on rose colored glasses and saying everything is going to be alright. It’s about changing the way we look at things and by changing the way we look at things, the things we look at will change. By taking the things all around us in our life, big or small, but even most especially with the little things, and seeing them through the eyes of appreciation, is the key that unlocks gratitude.
The list of things for us to appreciate in each of our lives no matter who we are or what we’re going through is limitless. Depending on our individual circumstances or situations, it may be easier said than done, but the fact remains that we all have plenty of things we can appreciate and be grateful for whether it’s a person or people in our lives, places we’ve been, things we have or the things we can see, feel, touch, experience, etc. the list is endless, so we really have no excuses. The challenge for us is to recognize it (whatever it may be), appreciate it and be grateful for it, rinse and repeat as often as possible. At first, if this is something we’re not already doing on a regular basis, it will take a conscious effort to apply, but the more often we practice it, the more automatic it will become without even thinking about it. A simple way to prime our attitude of gratitude pump every day is to have a short list of things that we can wake up to and be grateful for before we even start our day. Not only will this get our day off to a great start, but it’s also a practice tool to help us recognize other things throughout our day that we can appreciate and be grateful for.
We need to create an environment for ourselves that reflects the attitude of gratitude. The way we do that is by daily practice, not just when we’re feeling good. In fact, it’s when we’re not feeling good that we need to make a stronger effort apply this principle. Some of the little things we can do to keep us focused on a regular basis can be as small and simple as minding our manners by saying please and thank you. Offer a smile to a complete stranger. Notice when others do kind things to you and show gratitude by actions or words. Leave love notes for family members in unexpected places like lunch boxes and under pillows. Encourage someone with a compliment. Keep a basket of little slips of paper on a table at home or your desk at work, write notes of thankfulness throughout the week and read them when having moments of not feeling good. Verbalize what you’re grateful for whenever you seem like complaining about life. Putting these things into practice will help keep us on track with an attitude of gratitude and we’ll begin to notice how circumstances in our life start to change for the better. Having an attitude of gratitude is an essential part of our journey to financial freedom in order to get through the challenges we’ll encounter along the way.
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