Live Your Life With an Attitude of Gratitude

By Michele Tocci 

Cultivating gratefulness enhances your life and will provide long-term emotional rewards. How grateful are you for your life, for those around you, for where you live, for having running water everyday?

We live in an extremely materialistic age. It is standard to expect so much, often too much. The fact we have and own so much appears to have an impact on how grateful we actually are. Some of us tend to focus on what we don't have at times rather than what we do have.

Imagine what it would be like if you started every morning being grateful. Grateful for a wonderful night's sleep, grateful for a warm bed, grateful for a comfortable mattress, grateful for being able to sleep in your own room. Wouldn't that be a positive way to start the day?

I once heard someone say - don't wait to have a wonderful day - start your day in a wonderful way. So why not start your day by being grateful from the moment you wake up.

Imagine the impact it would have on those around you if you show true gratitude. You would be the person they aspire to be. As we get older, we do tend to be more grateful, grateful for our health, our family, our friends, good food, at times even a sunny day. When we are grateful, we magnify our positive emotions.

The impact this attitude of gratitude would have on your children or grandchildren and generally the people around you would create an incredible ripple. You would be leading by example in such a positive way.

Gratitude is about appreciation; it is recognising the small details around you that are special. We take so much for granted. We start to appreciate 'the little things'. You start to see good in so many places. Living your life being grateful means that in so many small ways, everyday will be a positive experience.

Keeping a gratitude journal is a fantastic idea as it allows you to spend time each day thinking about what you can appreciate in your life. Oprah Winfrey once said:

"If you look at what you have in life, 

you'll always have more.

If you look at what you don't have in life, 

you'll never have enough."

So why not spread the gratitude and teach others around you how to be grateful. Lead by example; start to send thank you notes to friends for small things. It could be a call, a text or an email.

Display gratitude and thankfulness to those around you often. The more people that hear and experience your appreciation, the bigger the ripple effect.

The bonus is that the more you display appreciation and gratitude, the more you will experience and notice the small things that we do for others. At times, if we let it, our life can feel hectic and we can reach our capacity and then comes overwhelm; however, when we stop, take a moment to enjoy the present that is when we can see, feel and experience, all the wonderful things and people that surround us every day.

Promoting this is promoting life. Live your life everyday with an attitude of gratitude.

Article Source: Live Your Life With an Attitude of Gratitude
Photo: Muhammad Noor Firdaus iskandar BIn Haji Bashah