A to Z Challenge: G is for Gratitude

A to Z Challenge:  G is for Gratitude

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The power of gratitude cannot be understated.  It promotes well-being in all areas of one's personal life:  physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.  It will help one face those most difficult of circumstances, and it makes the joys of life all the more joyous.  The positive effects of a thankful heart permeate to the very depths of who we are reaching out to impact our sleep, our health, our grades, and our approach to life in general.  

Our relationships will be stronger if we learn to appreciate as a way of life.  Forgiveness comes easier and grace flows in both directions more fluidly when gratitude is the river on which we sail.  Though slumps do come, they are overcome more quickly and with greater success when one is cultivating gratefulness. The sun shines brighter and life is just downright better with an attitude of gratitude. 

There are a number of studies which investigated the power of gratitude, all objectively verifying measurable positive reverberations from taking positive steps toward changing ones thinking and developing a more grateful attitude.  Here are a few of the suggestions.

1.  Count your blessings.  Don’t just think about or even just speak about what you have to be grateful for.  Write down 5 things a day and watch your attitude change and your health improve.  

2.  When you catch yourself complaining, stop.  Examine where that complaint is coming from.  Pull out the weed of complaining and find the flower of what you can be thankful for to plant in its place.  (Remember the old saying:  For every cloud, there is a silver lining.)  Be aware of your thinking and learn how to put off the destructive and put on the healthful.

3.  Find someone to help.  No I don’t mean to help you; I mean find someone you can help.  The act of giving of oneself has the added benefit of growing gratefulness for what you have.

In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  

                                     1 Thessalonians 5:18

Here is an anonymous poem on gratitude found in many places:

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire.

If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something,

for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.

During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations,

because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,

because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.

They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary,

because it means you’ve made a difference.

It’s easy to be thankful for the good things.

A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who

are also thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.

Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,

and they can become your blessings.

~Author Unknown 

I wish you, today, a day filled with many things for which you are thankful.  

A to Z Challenge:  G