Gratitude Shapes Your Future
Gratitude is poison to envy, resentment, regret, anger, and anxiety.
Ungratefulness makes you ugly.
Have you seen people who lived through tragedy glow with gratitude?
#1. Practice gratitude.
Don’t wait to feel grateful. Many things in the world invite you to be an ingrate. Some let the actions of others poison their soul. A lousy boss, political leaders, bad neighbors, and former friends pollute life when you let them.
Choose to act your way into feeling. Don’t wait to feel good about doing the right thing.
You naturally notice bad. You choose to focus on good. Mine for a nugget of praise even in the dark.
#2. Don’t pretend.
Painful experiences don’t vanish when you ignore them. However, a hurtful past isn’t resolved by wallowing in it.
You don’t build the future by camping in the past.
Acknowledge pain and practice thankfulness anyway. Mature people learn to do hard things. Don’t be thankful “for,” be thankful “in,” regardless of circumstances.
#3. Accept unchangeables.
- Your voice is squeaky – at least you can be heard in a crowd.
- You’re too short – at least you don’t threaten people.
- You were born into poverty – you have learned to be creative and make do.
- You’d like to fire your boss – for now you’re practicing character development.
#4. Enjoy benefits:
- You become beautiful. Resentment gives you wrinkles.
- Acknowledging something praiseworthy lowers stress.
- Thankfulness promotes personal growth. Prolonged anger shrivels your spirit.
- Thankfulness sifts friendships. Bitter people don’t like hanging with thankful people.
How might you practice gratitude today, specifically?
Which benefit of gratitude would most enhance your life today?
Still curious:
The Secret to Magnificent Success
The Simple Shift that Supercharges the Power of Gratitude
I learned how gratitude shapes identity from Robert Emmons, a world recognized gratitude researcher.
Humility and self-reflection strengthen leaders for the battle. Click here to check out, The Vagrant: The Inner Journey of Leadership. It’s a wonderful tool for leaders facing challenges.
Thank you for this reminder! I already put it into practice this morning! I am grateful for your ever-thoughtful presence in my life!
What a wonderful thing to read. Thank you 88.
How might you practice gratitude today, specifically? Make personal contact with my entire team and express my gratitude to them for their specific talents.
Which benefit of gratitude would most enhance your life today? Lower stress. More work, more requests can be overwhelming, focusing on the why this is occurring (people find value in our efforts) shifts my attitude immediately.
Brilliant, wp. Love the idea of making personal contact. Gratitude is beneficial to recipients and those who express it.
I have been searching for a while, for a map of sorts, for something to “fit” my situation and help me make sense of it all – I believe this post is what I have needed to read. A world of gratitude to you, Dan, for this post.
*Don’t be thankful “for,” be thankful “in,” regardless of circumstances.*
Mine is of a personal family nature, simply put, it’s life – and life can be difficult. I try and remember impermanence and equanimity – balance.
Have a safe 4th of July week – enjoy your family
Thanks for sharing a bit of your journey, Melanie. It’s true. Life is messy because people are messy. I wish you well moving forward.
One thing I learned from Robert Emmons is gratitude lessons the power of negative emotion more than it increases happiness. I think sometimes we think of gratitude as the magic pill to happiness. It’s helpful, but there’s more to it.
Steady on.