THE POWER OF GRATITUDE

When you are at the height of happiness and your life is going well, it is very easy to be grateful. It is quite another thing when you are going through hard times and you are feeling insecure about your future, emotionally and financially. Yet these are the times when having an ‘attitude of gratitude’ is crucial.

The power of gratitude brings with it many benefits. Throughout history, philosophers and religious leaders have extolled gratitude as a virtue integral to health and well-being. Today mental health professionals are taking a closer look at how certain virtues, such as gratitude, can help you have a healthier, more abundant life.

Grateful people tend to be more optimistic, a characteristic that researchers say boosts the immune system. Professor of psychology Dr. Robert Emmons say that, "Grateful people take better care of themselves and engage in more protective health behaviors like regular exercise, a healthy diet, regular physical examinations.”

Because grateful people tend to focus more on that which is going well on their life’s they tend to not be negative. Grateful people experience much less stress. Negativity causes stress and that causes a myriad of health issue.

When you think about and focus on things that you are grateful for, that sets up a paradigm that will support a life of getting more things to be grateful about.

Remember, we were wired for ‘greatness.’ The first step to achieving your highest potential is to first acknowledge gratefulness for that which you already have. This simple little step of acknowledgment of gratefulness requires little time and no money! And yet, it is an act that will bring more prosperity into your life.

HOW TO DEVELOP AN 'ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE'

Verbalize gratitude; just say “Thank you.”

If your spouse is proud that he remembered to take the trash out, bite your tongue if your first instinct is to point out that that’s the least he can do after you’ve been slaving all day with chores. Just say ‘Thank you.’

If your friend arrives early for the first time for your date, and gloats about being on time…smile…don’t take her joy away by reminding her how often she disappoints. Just say ‘Thank you.’

If your child calls you, don’t feign shock that he or she finally picked up the phone to call you. Don’t comment that you could’ve been dead and he or she never would’ve known. Just say ‘Thank you, for calling…I’ve missed you.”
Initiate acts of gratitude.

Pick up the phone and call someone you feel has brought happiness into your life. Express your gratitude.

Treat someone to lunch or to a movie to celebrate their being in your life.

Do something charitable, in gratitude of how others have helped you in the past or present.
Visualize gratitude.
Conjure up in your mind the beautiful places you have visited. Be grateful for all the beauty around you.

Visualize a person in the past that has helped you and pay it forward.

Think mentally about things you have accomplished and be grateful. This could be anything, life a credit card you paid off, a class you attended, a sweater you crocheted, a golf game you won…
Write it down. Keep a Gratitude Journal.

Keep your journal with you everywhere you go. Journal on a set time every day, or on your spare time, during break or when you are waiting for an appointment. Journal before you go to bed or when you wake up. It really doesn’t matter when you journal as long as you do it regularly.

This is most important. Everyday commit to writing at least 3 things you are grateful for. This can be something in your present, or something in the past; something big, like the home you just bought, or something small, like a rock or pebble you found while you were hiking. You can journal gratitude for a thing in your life, a situation, a trip that you are planning.

You can even journal about something that you visualize doing. Being grateful for something you have not accomplished yet, but you dream about doing is a great way to get your brain rewired for change.

The thing about journaling our gratitude is that even when we are in a space of hard times and can’t think about anything to be grateful for, the mental act of trying to come up with something, even this helps the brain to re-charge and help to produce a better you.