Gratitude 101: Gratitude Is The Key to Success

I saw a post today on FaceBook that said, "What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?" and it forced me to pause and think. Am I grateful for what I have, or do I tend to look for "greener grass?" That's when I knew I had to write this article. This one attitude impacts every area of our life.

You can change your life with a single thought.

This one thought can:

• Create great wealth

• Restore health and even cure disease

• Unlock your greatest potential

• Forge and fortify deep abiding love

• Inspire great joy to the point of bliss

Scripture tells us: "For as [a man] thinks within himself, so he is." (Proverbs 23:7 NAS95)

Therefore, it is vitally important that we watch what thoughts we allow ourselves to think. You may have heard the expression, "You bring about what you think about." Pretty simple, right? Our lives are a product of our thought process. You will get what you expect in life.

So what are we expecting? Why does one person have a different expectation than another? Our THOUGHTS drive our expectation. Whatever we're thinking about becomes what we expect to happen. This is why the great self-improvement books have focused on the power of thoughts. Of all the thoughts you experience and control, there is one that can profoundly transform your life on a daily basis. What is it? Gratitude.

How does gratitude transform our lives?

Our mind is bombarded with million of bits of information every second, so it filters out everything it is not actively looking for.

As a general rule, our mind looks for what is wrong, lacking or missing in our environment. Its primary job is to avoid danger and ensure our survival with threat-assessment emotions like fear, hesitation and suspicion. However, if we allow ourselves to become preoccupied with these negative thoughts, they begin to dominate our mind and become our expectations. Because we begin to expect negative we begin to create negative in our life. The ultimate result: a lifetime of disappointing and unfulfilling experiences and outcomes.

However, we CAN stop the natural negative tendency of our mind by redirecting it towards abundance and what's positively possible by focusing it on what we're grateful for. Almost instantly your life can change its trajectory.

This simple shift can revolutionize your world and all that you can create in it.

You see and experience what you look for. Sound too easy?

Take this simple test: In the room where you're sitting now, count the number of red items you see. Note as many as you can. How many items did you count? Now without looking again-eyes closed- how many items in the room do you remember were blue? You probably can't recall many at all. When you open your eyes and focus on the blue items, you'll probably see many more than you remembered. Why? Because the first time you weren't looking for them, thus you didn't see them. In your first reality they did really exist at all.

An attitude of gratitude opens your mind up to focus on the positive and ultimately see, discover and create more of the same. As a result, you will experience more abundance, prosperity, well-being, love, joy and happiness.

The Tangible Benefits of Gratitude

Health - Research has proven that practicing gratitude improves our emotional and physical well-being, reduces stress, worry, fear, anxiety and the conditions closely associated with these emotions such as high blood pressure, depression, heart disease, and immune system deficiencies. Maybe you aren't in the greatest physical shape right now, but you have the opportunity and ability to improve that, starting right now. My story is proof of that. Be thankful for that.

Relationships - I loved what Joel Osteen said in Darren Hardy's interview with him. Our partners usually fulfill only about 80% of our needs. Most people, however, focus on the 20% that's missing. Thus, they ultimately become unhappy and unfulfilled. Sadly, many people will leave the relationship to find that 20% in someone else. What they find is that "new" person will also fulfill only about 80% of their needs as well-they're just different needs and expectations from their last partner.

The key is to focus on the 80% of what is right, wonderful and beautiful about your partner and your relationship. Your positive perspective will change how you appreciate, interact and support your partner, thus garnering a much different response and engagement from them.

Wealth- When you see the glass half-full versus half-empty, you will start to see the abundance of water all around you. When you attune your mind to abundance you will start to develop new ideas, and see the opportunity and potential all around you. Your positive outlook will change how you walk, talk and interact in the world. Other influential and resourceful "birds of a feather" will also see the commonality and want to connect with you.

Put on your rose colored glasses.

Gratitude is a choice. It can become a positive habit-but only with discipline. With continued exercise and practice, it will create more abundance, prosperity, well-being, joy and happiness than you ever thought possible.

One of my favorite inspirational speakers and personal growth "guru," Jim Rohn, teaches that greatest gift of all is the gift of personal development-so that is what I want to pass on to you. The one book that has had the most impact on my development over the past year has been Darren Hardy's "The Compound Effect." This book and audio program teaches how success (or failure) in every area of life, including fitness, is based on the small things done repeatedly over time.

In closing, here are some questions for you:

In what ways will you express your gratitude over the next week?

What is your favorite gratitude practice?

Article Source: Deryl W Duer

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