I used to get so frustrated with people who would tell me “Count your blessings.” When I was in the midst of a negative feeling, the last thing I wanted to do was to count my blessings! I wanted to whine and complain and grumble - I didn’t want to fake gratitude when it wasn’t there. I used to think people like that were fools who didn’t know how to deal with reality.
But the more I practiced self-improvement and personal growth, the more things shifted for me and one day I started counting my blessings. “Let’s just give it a shot,” I thought. “What I’ve been doing isn’t working, so it’s time to try something else. Why not gratitude?” So I started a gratitude journal.
Now I see that I was the fool all along.
It’s true what they say about gratitude. It’s not happiness that brings us gratitude. It’s gratitude that brings us happiness. When we take the time to appreciate what is all around us, no matter in what form, we begin to see things differently. We begin to cultivate gratitude and we begin to see the abundance all around us. It’s just a matter of changing focus.
So if you’re dealing with the negative emotions and wanting to grumble and complain about what is, I encourage you to try something different for a change. Try finding something, anything at all to be grateful for. And then find something else. And then something else. Practice this again and again and again and see how things begin to shift.
It’s amazing what an attitude of gratitude can do. You can begin today by starting your own journal. And then make a promise to yourself that you are going to write down at least three things for which you are grateful or you appreciate every single day. Take your time when you do this, give it some thought and be sure to really feel the emotion of gratitude. Decide right now to be in a state of gratitude more often and then just see what happens.
It is my promise to you that if you do this and stay faithful to it, you will begin to experience a shift in yourself. Something truly magical happens when you write it out. When you declare your appreciation to the world, the world shows you more and more to appreciate. Have fun!
Comments