Living From Gratitude

For most of my adult life I believed that an attitude of gratitude is a good thing to have. As often as possible I tried to be humble and grateful for the blessings I received, but I didn't fully grasp just how powerful a gratitude practice could be until I set an intention to "Live From Gratitude" for an entire day. What does that mean, to "Live From Gratitude?" I decided that I would stay in a grateful state of mind and give deep, heartfelt thanks for everything I did, saw, felt, and experienced that day. From the moment I opened my eyes early that morning, I began giving thanks for everything and everyone that entered my awareness. I thought about each of my family members and friends, and gave thanks for their presence in my life. I gave thanks for my home, my business, my car, my clothing, my health, and my cats. As I moved through my daily activities, I gave thanks for everything I touched, everything I saw or heard, everything I felt, and everything that happened to me - even the annoying and challenging experiences. I gave thanks for our dishes and utensils as I washed them, as well as the water I was washing them in, and for my hands that enabled me to wash them. A few of those items were wedding gifts for my husband and I, and as I washed each one, I recalled our wedding day with joy and gratitude, and gave thanks for my husband and the life we share together. During my business activities that day, I gave heartfelt thanks for my clients and the passionate work that fulfills me and allows me to make a difference in the world. I also gave thanks for the challenges my work sometimes brings, simply because they strengthen me. I expressed sincere gratitude for everything I saw, heard, felt, did or experienced throughout the entire day, big or small, good or bad. Not only did I SAY "thank you" for these things, I made sure to really FEEL the feelings of gratitude and appreciation for them. As I'm sure you can imagine, that was a LOT of gratitude! The results that came from my day of living from gratitude were astounding. It was one of the most powerful days of my life. All day long I kept meeting the nicest, greatest people everywhere I went. My income for that day jumped up to roughly three times what it normally was, without me having to lift a finger to make it happen. I kept noticing awesome opportunities, tools, and resources that would help me grow my business or improve some aspect of my life. Some of these things had been right under my nose all along, but I'd never noticed them before. I received so many great gifts as a result of my day of living from gratitude, but the true gift of that day is the way I felt all day long. Never in my life can I remember feeling so humbled, so blessed, so RICH. Everything around me became SACRED in ways that I can't even describe. Struggle, strain, anxiety, frustration, fear, anger . . . they all just faded away. Everything I saw and experienced was uplifting, inspiring and beneficial. My life was transformed that day, into something that I never dreamed would be possible. I'd thought my life was good before that - but my new attitude of gratitude took it to a whole new level of goodness. That day stands out in my memory as one of the best days of my life. In fact, it was so powerful that I've since adopted my "living from gratitude" mind-set as an ongoing intention. Every day I strive to live from gratitude - and each day gets more and more magical the longer I do it. Try it yourself and see if it doesn't have the same wonderful effect on your life. Wendy Betterini