Being thankful

5 11, 2018

Two Ways to Develop an Attitude of Gratitude

By |2018-11-02T15:59:04-05:00November 5th, 2018|Holidays, Make Me Think Monday|1 Comment

I know blogging about thankfulness and gratitude in November is cliché, but what better time to focus our thoughts on thankfulness and gratitude.

After all, we do celebrate Thanksgiving Day in America this month.

Too often, though, our attention on thankfulness is missing for the rest of the year.

Being grateful is a choice. If you’ve lived most of your life NOT focusing on gratitude, it’s not so simple to change that perspective.

Here are two ways to help you cultivate an attitude of thankfulness beyond one Thursday in November.

Keep a thankful list.

It’s sometimes hard to write down things that you’re thankful for, especially on those terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad days, but over time the act of physically writing out a daily list can produce an grateful attitude.

Start your list with simple things like a bed to sleep in. A house that keeps you dry and warm. The sunrise/sunset. If you look around you, there is so much to be thankful for.

If writing out a list isn’t for you, you could try grateful beads. That’s what I use.

My grateful bead string has ten beads to help recall things to be thankful for. Three beads for three people who touch your life. Six beads for six things, events, and occurrences and the final bead to remind you to give thanks to your creator.

You can find beads like mine here  or do a search online for grateful beads. There are many options.

Share thankfulness on social media

We are a plugged-in culture, which makes it next to impossible to avoid social media altogether no matter how hard we might try. Social media sites are filled with an abundance of thoughts and images of wars, earthquakes, floods, fires, sick children, murdered spouses and, lately, politics.

By sharing positive, uplifting posts, memes, and videos instead of those, you encourage attitudes of thankfulness in yourself and others.

Give these two ideas a try, I think you’ll find an attitude of gratitude grows the more you use it.

8 11, 2017

Focus on Gratitude – Cicero

By |2017-11-04T20:45:40-05:00November 8th, 2017|Wednesday Words of Wisdom|2 Comments

Cicero says gratitude is the parent of all virtues. So what is gratitude?

Gratitude is an emotion expressing appreciation for what we have. It’s being thankful and grateful. Gratitude encourages us not only to appreciate gifts but to repay them or pay them forward.

Studies show that when we deliberately cultivate gratitude, we can increase our well-being and happiness. Being grateful—and especially the expression of it to others—increases energy, optimism, and empathy.

So what are you thankful for today?

 

9 11, 2016

GRATEFUL + THANKFUL = GRATITUDE

By |2017-11-04T19:57:22-05:00November 9th, 2016|Wednesday Words of Wisdom|1 Comment

GRATEFUL and THANKFUL are adjectives describing deep appreciation.  Exhibiting both adjectives causes GRATITUDE.

gratitudequote3

In this month of emphasis on being thankful, I’m an author who is grateful to and thankful for readers who read  my books.

Use the comments below and/or on Twitter with these hashtags #grateful #gratitude to share what you’re thankful for today.

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