Never too Early or too Late to Practice an Attitude of Gratitude

What if you tried something different and everything in your life changed for the better? And what if one simple alteration had everyone around you notice a marked improvement? A loss can sometimes allude to gain. Sometimes we have to lose before we can win. Lose old habits before we regain better ones. Give up an old way to accommodate a new way. Get rid of a bad attitude to secure a better viewpoint. Lose a negative outlook to reach a fresh perspective. The bad then fades into some obscure corner. Did it exist? Sure it did, but who cares if something unpleasant did or didn’t happen. The key is not to make that your focal point when the center of attention should be gratitude.

There’s an artist within every soul breathing in this gifted life who is ready to make a difference. In other words, we create stuff as we go. The life you live is the one you created whether last year, yesterday or an hour ago. Every choice thought, word, action exists because you brought it to life. Want to experience a great life? Start by changing your stance. Change your demeanor, alter the way you view everything around you, and everything around you changes. 

Enter gratitude. The practice existed for eons. Yet, here we are 2019 and it’s the current buzzword. Perhaps we just caught on to the concept. Grasped its definition. Embraced its profound meaning and finally ran with it after having an aha moment. How do we reach a state of epiphany, a moment when we finally get it, and everything starts to make sense? To attain insight, we must first learn, accept, and practice delivering the compliment, recognition, and respect, until eventually, something becomes second nature.

APPRECIATE THE SUBTLE BEAUTY OF LIFE

Gratitude once grasped, requests we look outside ourselves and at everything that surrounds us. Feel the warmth of the bright sun. Feel the misty rain or the arctic breeze nip at your cheeks. These feelings are real and are in the day to day experiences we can be grateful for. When genuine and intentional, it becomes a game changer. It lives within your sight line and rests within your heart. It’s that flutter in your chest you can’t explain but can express. When we esteem the life gifted, value who we are, treasure what we do, honor how we live, and cherish others, we tap into gratefulness. When we delve in the process of entrusting and acknowledging, we are receptive to appreciating the subtle beauty in everything and everyone.

Sense life’s energy after practicing gratitude, and you will find it feels different as it replenishes your vitality. The way you think and perceive sets the tone. More so, the way you choose. The choice to see the best in all things. It’s favoring the light over the darkness and mindful of the contrast. Optimism versus pessimism, seeing the best instead of the worst. You move to the beat of a different drummer. Embrace the less is more concept. Discover less hate attributes to more love. Less stress equals more peace. Less stuff, more white space, and extra time. There is satisfaction and joy in just being where you are at this specific point in time. Grateful for all things. 

When we recognize the positive attributes of others and focus only on the beneficial and nurturing aspects of life, then we move toward personal growth and development. And what comes around goes around. It’s the way we make others feel through the way we interact and communicate. How we express ourselves, not only words but in actions. Something given always comes back. That is the power of recognition and appreciation. Take your mind off the bad stuff, focus on the good, and usher in the greater aspects of love.

CREATE A GRATITUDE JOURNAL

To create achievable goals, we must write them down. It is no different with gratitude. First thing in the morning focus on what you are grateful for and jot it down in a notebook. Then again, in the evening, just before your head meets the pillow, get your gratitude journal and enter why you are grateful. The timeline for developing new habits depends on the person because everyone is unique in creating new daily patterns. Sometimes it can take anywhere from three weeks to a year before someone creates a flow and can sustain a new routine.

When living each day in praise, you develop a new way of thinking. It’s when we walk the talk and talk the walk. The key is electing to live in a grateful state always, regardless of what is happening in your life. There’s so much to be grateful for: grateful for the life lessons, for understanding, for freedom of choice. Grateful for life and the love that sustains us. Gratitude paves the way to a new way of living and is the pathway to spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. It’s never too early or too late to practice gratitude.