What Are You Grateful For?

That's not usually the first question that is on people’s minds these days with all the economic news and negative political rhetoric.  Our more regular questions seem to drift to things like, “Why does everything bad always happen to me? Or, “What’s wrong with people these days?” or “How am I ever going to find a job, get along with _____ (fill in the blank), lose weight, afford a new car, quit smoking…”  You get the idea.  It’s human nature to focus on problems because negative grabs our attention.

But focusing on problems can often leave us exhausted, unmotivated, and unhappy. That state of mind does not make for getting much done or living a joyful, fulfilled life. We can’t ignore our problems but we can change our mindset, our way of viewing the world.  That in turn can help us grow bigger than our problems as one of my mentors, T Harv Eker, says.  It's easier to solve problems that we're bigger than.

The quickest way to change a negative way of thinking is a simple switch to gratitude.  It changes everything.  When we ask ourselves what we’re grateful for, our brains seek out a wonderful list of things.  Our brains are funny like that - they tend to answer what we ask.  We just tend to ask a lot of lousy questions!   But when we ask what we’re grateful for, we begin to feel better. Why? Because our feelings come from our thoughts and they’ve just been redirected away from problems and negativity. Gratitude is one of the best antidotes to fear, sadness, frustration and a string of negative emotions too long to list. 

So what are you grateful for today? What made you smile today? Who made your day? Whose day can you make? Great questions that bring you on a much more pleasant journey because they bring great answers. Make a new habit to check into some of those questions on a regular basis, especially in tough times. You might even want to start a little gratitude journal writing down a few each evening or each morning. Sure beats making a list of all the things you didn’t do and can’t seem to have. It’s something that many successful people do.

At a recent seminar I attended, the trainer suggested we start our day with gratitude instead of grumbling, saying as soon as our feet hit the floor, “I love my life!”  Takes a bit a practice but it sure starts the day off right. Hard not to smile when you start the day that way. 

I used to have my Strategies for Success students keep a gratitude journal where they listed three things a day that they were grateful for.  I think it was part of the reason we had such a positive environment in class.  Research shows that we’re more productive, better able to problem solve and generally better to be around when we’re in a positive frame of mind.  And who doesn’t want that?

What am I grateful for?  That I’ve been invited to share the ideas I’ve been privileged to learn from some of the most well-known, well-regarded positive people in the world.  Oh yeah… and that I’m getting to write this first Patch blog next to my sister-in-law’s pool in Vero Beach, Florida.  Thanks, Kathy (and Jimmy)!  I’m so grateful I got to work from your home last week!