Being Grateful For What You Have - Are You?

By Pat Heydlauff

The gratitude season is here. With Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and the New Year on the horizon, maintaining a calm grateful attitude throughout the next several weeks will reduce your anxiety, put you in-control and increase your personal blessings tenfold. Your holiday season will be filled with more hope, peace and joy within instead of worry and stress.

According to the combined research results of 10 different studies, “There appears to be a significant, consistent, and sizeable effect of gratitude on positive affect (results). Happiness researchers often talk about the existence of a hedonic treadmill, which points out that the kinds of things that most people focus on to improve our happiness do not have the consistent effects that we might expect. In contrast, gratitude appears to be a promising candidate as a route to effecting lasting increases in personal well-being.”

A Gratitude Perspective: It is one thing to be in the moment and really enjoy the festivities of a holiday such as Thanksgiving and the ones that follow where the abundance of positive energy overflows. If this is you, congratulations, you own the key to future success, improved well-being and creating a more abundant prosperous life.

If not, why not? Are you so stuck on yesterday and things that went wrong that you can’t take the next step forward to create a better tomorrow? Perhaps a little gratitude perspective might help get you unstuck. Did you know?

• If your combined household earns more than $24,600 a year you are in the top 10% of all income earners in the world.

• The average monthly salary for someone living in Afghanistan is only $14 a month.

• 37 million Americans live below the National poverty line. That’s 1 in every 8 Americans living in poverty.

• Almost half the world - over three billion people - lives on less than $2.50 a day and at least 80% live on less than $10.00 per day.

• Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.

With a slightly different perspective, somehow it is easier to appreciate and be grateful for what you do have and not remain stuck on where you’ve been or what hasn’t happened.

Is It All about Attitude? But, when the holidays are over, what about being grateful the other 320 some days of the year? Should you adopt a new golden rule for living, “Gratitude provides great attitude – or does a great attitude provide you with gratitude?” When you are in the “gratitude mode” your cup is always half full instead of half empty. When in a constant state of gratitude, your cup runs over the brim, not just half full. Gratitude for even the smallest of things in your life sets a positive mood for your entire day, and leads to self-improvement, abundance and prosperity.

If you are searching for more prosperity and abundance in the New Year, shift to a grateful attitude by applying the following Feng Shui principles. They will help you maintain your positive gratitude energy from the Thanksgiving and holiday season so you can use it all year long to increase your prosperity and abundance.

First, create a grateful energy reminder. To help you remember to be grateful for what you have, not what you don’t have, place an item that is symbolic of gratitude for you in the south area of your family room. Some examples could be a gift from a treasured friend, a small framed hand written note of appreciation from someone else grateful for your kindness or a picture of someone who was always there for you. Make a point to look at your symbolic gratitude reminder on a daily basis. It will not only bring a smile to your face but you will also be reminded to think of something right at that moment to be thankful for. This is how you create a gratitude list you can use in the future for encouragement and reassurance.

Next, learn to appreciate and be grateful for you. Place a candle (neutral earth tone colors would be great) in the southwest area of your bedroom in a safe container and light that candle at least once a week before bedtime. It will not only serve to help you relax before going to sleep but will allow you a few quiet minutes to reflect on your past week and give thanks for everything positive that happened during the week no matter how large or small, mundane or exotic. Add to your running list of things you are grateful for and watch it grow along with your self-confidence and prosperity while your anxieties shrink. Remember to also give thanks for taking care of yourself. If you don’t do that, who will?

Third, once a week tell a friend or loved one how grateful you are just for them being part of your life.  Far too often, we never say thank you to those nearest to us. It is so easy to take loved ones and good friends unintentionally for granted. Or, thank a harried store clerk or receptionist in a doctor’s office for taking good care of you, full well knowing that they’ve had a really hectic day filled with holiday shoppers or sick people. It is so very easy to give others a positive energy boost by simply saying “thank you, I appreciate you.”

With the world filled with chaos and adversity; it is easy to get caught up in the negativity and allow it to enter your own life so it can create more chaos. The plan is simple, adopt a gratitude perspective and shift to a positive gratitude attitude 24/7, not only for the six weeks of the holiday season. The result, an in-control anxiety free confident you with a prosperity and an abundant outlook.

Read other articles and learn more about Pat Heydlauff.

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