Reasons Why Gratitude Can Change Your Life

Gratitude Writers Corner

I am a very negative person; a cynic and a pessimist. I don’t think that I am that bad, but this is what my
two adult children tell me all the time. Therefore, being a realtor and in other type of sales jobs all my
life, I practice very hard at being positive and having a positive mindset. For me, it takes a lot of effort
and practice every single day, as soon as I wake up in the early mornings. I have always been in sales
and need to be positive for my clients and to obtain new clients. Setting short and long term goals has
always been part of my life since a young child and it is critical as a sales person to have this type of
mentality and attitude. In my opinion, not making and having short and long term goals makes one live
life aimlessly, just meandering with no dream, no focus, no ambition, no motivation; just drifting with
no purpose, not knowing which direction to go and just existing. The reason I am putting so much
emphasis on setting short and long term goals leads me to what the title and contents of this article is all
about.

For me, to obtain and maintain a positive and grateful attitude and mentality requires a lot of hard
work, discipline, goal setting and a lot of practice daily. For many years now, I have often thought of
practicing “gratitude” in my life but never set out to achieve it seriously or wholeheartedly. Then
recently I began to wonder just how being grateful just might change not only the way I think, but it
might change my life, definitely for the better.

It is human nature to always want what others have that we don’t have and to compare our lives to
others who we think are more wealthier than we are or have much better paying jobs than we have or a
bigger house/mansion than ours or a nicer/luxury car than ours and the list goes on and on. However,
material things and being wealthy can never buy good health or happiness. Happiness comes from
within ourselves and it all depends on our focus. If we focus on lack in our lives, we will continue to
have lack. I truly believe that being grateful can truly change one’s lives for the better: better health,
emotions, attitudes and can and will bring success into our lives.

I have decided to write this article on gratitude so we can all go on this exciting journey together. How
can we practice gratitude? Here are some suggestions:

Every morning before you head out your front door: spend 5 minutes writing down everything you are
grateful for in your life. Get an inexpensive notebook (one of those composition books or tablets) to do
this. Try to do this by starting out putting the date on the top of the page and writing this: “Today, I am
grateful for……” Just set aside 5 minutes of your time very early in the morning to do this daily until it
becomes a habit that you do not even have to feel that it is a task or a chore to do. Be sure to date
every single journal entry before you list the things you are grateful for. Whenever you are feeling sad,
angry , or even depressed go and read your journal entries (read them out aloud). This will and should
immediately lift up your downcast spirit and boost your mood into a much more positive and happy one.
There are so many things we take for granted. For example: a roof over our heads, a nice warm bed to
sleep in, clothes to clothe our bodies, food to eat for nourishment and survival, clear clean water to
drink, a job (even if we hate going to work every single day—millions are jobless); the list is endless.
Many, many peoples in the world lack clean water and food and all the basic necessities we have and
take them for granted.

“Gratitude can change your life because it makes you appreciate what you have rather than what you
don’t have.” Learning to be grateful takes time and a lot of practice: it just does not happen overnight.
But with perseverance and a strong desire to change one’s attitude and journaling daily in your
notebook--- changing your focus from lack and your problems--- will bring you abundance and a positive
mindset. Now, who would not want this in their lives, right?

Many of us think and believe that successful and wealthy people have so much to be grateful for
because of their success, monies, cars, house, etc. Sure all these material things can change the quality
of one’s life, but having lots of monies can also bring a lot of problems as we are all aware of. A good
example is the instant lottery winner. They become millionaires instantly by their winning lottery ticket,
but are they happier and does their instant millionaire status last forever? It never does.

Having gratitude in our lives will chase out our fears: because it is very difficult to be fearful and grateful
at the same time. For example: “When we are fearful of things that put us into a state of scarcity, such
as not having enough money to pay our bills or put groceries in our refrigerator, or pay our rent or
house mortgage, we’re living in a state of lack rather than a state of abundance.

Being grateful, however, puts you into a state of abundance. It instills the belief that you’re thankful for
what you have, right now, in this very moment, rather than worrying about what you don’t have or
won’t have in the future.

In America and some other countries in the world, we celebrate Thanksgiving Day, which always falls on
the last Thursday in the month of November. On Thanksgiving Day, we share our gratitude and
express them out loud with our families and friends all gathered around the dinner table before we
partake of the food. But, I was thinking: why can’t we be grateful every single day and not only on this
one day of the year. You, yourself, must make that decision to create a daily habit of gratitude and write
down everything you are grateful for. Then watch all your fears dissipate over time. Remember, this
takes practice and a strong motivation and desire to have this attitude of gratitude. When we start on
this journey of gratefulness together, it is easy to give up, but one must focus and persevere, nothing
comes to us overnight but it will come if we persevere.

Whatever faith or religion you believe in, whether it’s God, Allah, Buddha, etc. gratitude can strengthen
and enhance your faith. For me, personally, it is my strong belief in God. According to Wonderlust
Worker, “Gratitude transforms your faith by instilling the belief that you are never alone because God is
always right beside you and helping you get through your trials and tribulations and you will emerge as
victorious at the end. God promises us at He will never leave us nor forsake us, He is always right beside
us even if we are not able to see Him; we cannot see the wind, but we can feel the wind. You will
accomplish your goals, overcome your obstacles and fears and become a better person: one who will be
more sympathetic to the problems others have and will have a compassion and desire to help others
because you will realize what you have is truly enough and then your focus becomes helping others.”
For me, helping others gives me extreme amount of pleasure and the rewards are unbelievable. It
allows us to take our focus off of ourselves but rather having a deep feeling of wanting to help others.
(Some excerpts from: Wonderlust Worker)

I hope all the information in this article, allows each and every one of you to embark on this journey of
gratitude with me daily: together we will persevere with great diligence, practicing gratitude all day
long and then realizing that we are much more happier than we ever was in the past.

So until the next time we meet again, keep on smiling, dancing and meeting new people on Smeet. If
you see me around on Smeet, please do not hesitate to say hi to me and if you have a specific question
or would like to read articles I have never written on our Smeet blog in the past, please send me a
message in private.

Always remember this: Love one another because Love conquers everything.

Happy Smeeting and God bless! <3

εїз šαуûяî εїз, EN Journalist