I am grateful that life is good. One of the simplest and biggest ideas I’ve learned is that a grateful heart is essential to true happiness. I have always believed that love is the foundation of a truly blessed life and I still do. However, we can be loved unconditionally and even learn to love ourselves and others without practicing gratitude.
There is a difference between knowing that someone loves us and being grateful that they accept us for who we are. Knowing that we are loved, we can take it for granted or even reject that love. However, if we are grateful that we are loved and accepted unconditionally, we are more likely to receive that love with joy and appreciation. Gratitude makes us appreciate and value something. This, in turn, brings us joy. There’s a difference between loving someone’s sense of humor and being grateful for the moments of laughter we enjoy with him or her. There is also a difference between loving our innate strengths and talents and being grateful that we can use them to help and hurt others.
Gratitude helps us put love into action. It helps us to experience love and to live it. For example, I love my godmother and I really enjoy spending time with her. We recently had a wonderful time together celebrating my birthday. She made it so special. I really felt loved, but more than that, she was so grateful for everything she did to make it memorable. Love made me feel good and gratitude brought me joy. I find that the more I reflect on the reasons for which I am grateful, the more appreciation and joy I experience.
A very effective way to increase our daily experience of gratitude and joy is to make a habit of listing at least three things we are thankful for at the end of each day. I remember when I started doing this years ago. I was amazed at how many little things were true blessings to my day. Usually you wouldn’t have given them much thought and probably would have taken them for granted. And I’m talking about simple things like being thankful for good weather so I can ride my bike, watching a funny movie with my family, discussing the day’s events with my husband, meeting an old friend, getting a big hug from my son, listen to a new song that I like, and so on.
The more I disciplined myself to notice the good things in life, the more I began to recognize how much there is to be grateful for. Napoleon Hill said, “Your big break may be right where you are right now.” Our greatest opportunity right now is to appreciate life, to know that it is good, and to enjoy it. We take advantage of that opportunity every time we reflect on our blessings and give thanks!
What you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more. Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter what happened in my life. ~ Oprah Winfrey
Joy is a heart filled and a mind purified by gratitude. ~Marietta McCarty
Gratitude is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, no matter how much we have, we will not be happy, because we always want to have something else or something else. ~David Steindl-Rast
Happiness cannot be traveled, possessed, earned, used or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude. ~- Denis Waitley
Copyright 2010 All rights reserved. Written by Krystal Kuehn. New Day Counseling Center