Do it daily
A couple of years ago, I made a life-changing decision. After studying gratitude for some time, I decided to do something very simple. I had no idea at the time how this simple step would change my entire existence. Please keep in mind as you read this that I lean much more toward the artistic than the pragmatic in my approach to life. I’m not a creature of habit. I like things loose and wild and spontaneous, not structured and ordered and routine. However, after discovering the power of gratitude, I set out to make it a daily practice.
Routines are tough for artistic types. But I set a goal that I would not get out of bed in the morning until I’d made a list of things that I was grateful for. I determined that I would do this daily and never miss. I began to do it every single day. Some days my list would be long and full of life, and some days it would be short and sweet. But every single day, I would mentally list the things in my life that I was grateful for, literally before my feet hit the ground. I am proud to say that the daily practice stuck. I still do this every single morning before my feet hit the floor.
Often many of the things I list are the same — my family, my health, my kids both having people in their lives that love them, the relationship I share with my wife, etc. — and that’s okay because I am truly grateful for these things. I once heard someone say, “What if tomorrow you lost everything you had not expressed gratitude for today?” That will get you thinking about the things in your life that you are truly grateful for.
I can honestly say that adopting an Attitude of Gratitude may be the single greatest contributor to the absolute change in my positivity journey in recent years. It is a magical and powerful experience to start your day thinking about your haves instead of your have-nots. Because when you start your day with naming things you are grateful for, you begin to recognize just how good you have it. It puts your train on the right track, moving in the right direction for the day. Think of it as aligning your soul with the energy permeating the universe, pulling you towards great things. Anytime you choose to run along that track, you are no longer fighting against the good in the world. You are uniting and choosing to flow with that positive energy.
-Jim