Gratitude!
This being the week before Thanksgiving, I wanted to spend a moment to just talk about gratitude and being thankful for what we have in our lives. I love this quote:
"Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance."— Eckhart Tolle (A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
If you haven't read either of Eckhart Tolle's books, I strongly recommend them. For me they were life changing and yet strengthening to what I had already knew within.
Here are my favorite 3 techniques to practice gratitude.
1. Every morning wake up and list 5 things you are grateful for in your life. They can be small and simple things. This way you start everyday feeling lucky! You can go a step further and before you fall asleep at night list 5 things you are grateful for. Again they can be small like "I get to sleep in my comfy bed tonight."
2. Be aware of your negative thoughts. Try putting a positive spin on them. One thing I have used is for every negative thing I say, I have to think of 3 positives. If you can see the positive in everything than you will no longer have any "bad" things in your life. This takes practice but be patient with yourself. Negative self talk is often the most hurtful. Negativity can also be contagious so surround yourself with happy people who don't bring you down.
3. Give to others. Most people enjoy making other people happy. It goes with the pay it forward idea of thinking. If you give to others, others are more likely to give back. This might not sound like a way to practice being grateful but sometimes we have to give in order to receive. You can call it karma but good things happen to people who do good things for others. I often feel good after leaving work because I know I just helped someone. This makes me grateful for my work and the life I live.
