Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart. ~Henry Clay

Thanksgiving – Why Not Be Grateful Every Day?

Would you consider yourself to be a truly grateful person?

Are you a rare person that appreciates everything (good or bad) in your life, and takes no moment for granted?

If so, you can stop reading now. If not (the majority of us), please continue reading.
Focus on What You DO Have

Each day we awaken to a world of infinite possibility. We can spend our days any way we please, and we take full advantage of this right. We indulge by eating wonderful food, driving luxurious cars (if you don't think your 1996 Corolla is luxurious, compare it to what the rest of the world drives), spending time with our loved ones, and engaging in many entertaining activities each day.

Surface-level Gratitude

Most human beings view gratitude as a momentary interruption in their thought process. Before we sleep some of us thank God for all of the good things we have in our life. Often times we complement this thanks with a request for more "stuff". If we are truly grateful for what we already have, why the heck are we asking for even more things?

Sometimes, it occurs to us that we're being so ungrateful, that we have no choice but to remind ourselves to be grateful. We realize that we were wrong in taking things for granted, and we proclaim confidently that we'll never let it happen again.

In this example, we're paying attention to something called "surface-level gratitude." We are attempting to be grateful for specific things (material and beyond) in our life (money, relationships, success).

Instead, Simple Internal Changes

Picture how great you will feel when you master gratitude. We all want to live happy lives. After studying happiness for over fifteen years, I have found that a key element in every person who is truly happy is: They are grateful for all that they can be grateful for. A grateful person is a joyful person. People who are lacking happiness wonder about the missing ingredient. When you master gratitude yourself, you will easily recognize that the missing ingredient was: Gratitude.

Here is a one-sentence formula for becoming a grateful person: Think, Speak, and Act like a grateful person does. There is no mystery about how to become a person who has internalized the attribute of gratitude. Think gratefully. Speak gratefully. Act gratefully. When you consistently do these three things, you are consistently grateful. Even before this pattern has become consistent for you, you will begin to change.

You will notice what you are looking for. Someone who loves birds and flowers will notice them, when most people wouldn't have seen them and others would just pass them by without registering them. And when you consider it important to be grateful you will notice more and more kind things that others do for you. And you will remember more kind things that others have done for you in the past.

Be grateful for all your skills, abilities, talents, knowledge, inner resources and outer resources. As I am typing this, I am grateful that I can type and I am grateful to my mother for teaching me how to type when I was a young girl. When you read this, be grateful that you know how to read and that you are adding gratitude as one of your precious inner resources.

Associate the word gratitude with: happiness, joy, bliss, euphoria, ecstasy. How do you do this? Whenever you feel positive feelings of gratitude, enthusiastically say, "Happiness, joy, bliss, euphoria, ecstasy." If you want to make this really work well, look in a mirror as you do so. Think thoughts of gratitude and see the smile of gratitude on your face.