The MONTHLY Motivator - September 2005

Gratitude

Gratitude is vital to a successful, fulfilled life. Whatever you want to have, or achieve, or become, the first step is gratitude. The things you appreciate, value, and care for, will increase in your life. Being sincerely thankful for what you already have, will propel you, spiritually, mentally and physically, toward whatever you would like to have.

When you live and act with gratitude, it keeps you focused on abundance rather than on lack and limitation. Think about it. When you are grateful and appreciative for what you have, your mind is occupied with positive thoughts. By contrast, when you are bitter, resentful or apprehensive about what you don’t have, it focuses your mind on lack and limitation. Which focus do you think is more productive, more creative, more oriented towards success? Positive focus, of course. Just thinking about something does not necessarily make it so. Accomplishment requires thought plus action. Yet without positive focus in your thoughts, your actions will be ineffective. So success starts with a positive focus, and gratitude is a major component of that.

Have you ever gone to a lot of trouble and expense to select and purchase a gift for someone, and then the person you gave it to didn’t even acknowledge it? How would you feel if such a thing happened? Would you be likely to give that person another gift? Probably not.

The same dynamic also operates on a larger scale. Without gratitude, the good things in life stop coming your way. This is not due to some vengeful cosmic law. In fact, the good things actually continue to come, but without gratitude they are of no use to you because you cannot appreciate or benefit from them.

Gratitude compels you to ask yourself, “What is good about this?” When you regularly ask and answer that question, you find value. When you utilize that value, you enjoy abundance.

Gratitude gives you a positive orientation

It is impossible to be sincerely positive about the future if you’re not positive about right now. Being positive about right now means being thankful for what you already have. That comes from practicing gratitude on a moment-by-moment basis.

Gratitude helps you to see the positive in every situation. When you look for reasons to be grateful, you are sure to find them. You’re able to illuminate the positive aspects of your life and the world around you. Gratitude helps you to see how problems can change into opportunities, how difficult challenges can lead to magnificent accomplishments. It keeps you focused on the positive.

Gratitude is a leadership quality

Gratitude significantly improves your relationships with other people. Gratitude can help to make you a leader. When you are grateful for favors, compliments, support, gifts, a job well done, and other helpful gestures, then more of them come your way. People like to be helpful, and they like to be appreciated for it. When you show sincere gratitude, you win the hearts, the attention, and the continued support of others. The most effective leaders are those who practice sincere gratitude.

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--Ralph Marston

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