Cultivating a Grateful Heart

Well, it is my favorite time of the year. Fall is in the air and the leaves are falling off of the trees. The weather has finally started to change and it is apparent that we are in autumn. This time of the year always makes me think about harvest, pumpkin pie and the Thanksgiving holiday. It is a wonderful time to enjoy friends, family and great food. However, there is so much more to this time of the year than that. This is the time of the year where hearts open a little wider and we start to focus lesson on our problems and more on being grateful. Personally, gratitude has been a huge anchor in my life and I would like to share a few insights with you on raising your gratitude level.

1. Realize that you have so much to be grateful for. We are living in a time where we are facing a myriad of social, economic and political challenges. I never want to downplay your reality or experiences. However, I encourage you to just take a moment and look around. Your life could always be worst. So often we get so absorbed in what we do not have that we forget to appreciate what we do have. You have so much to be grateful for. You are alive, you have the love and support of great friends and family, and you have an incredible purpose to fulfill. Everything in your life may not be going according to plan. However, you can rest assured that there is a higher purpose for your life. You need to shift from grumbling and complaining to living in a perpetual state of gratitude.
2. Declare your life a complaint free zone. I talk to people everyday that have embraced a lifestyle of negativity. More importantly, they have created a culture of toxicity. We are all facing challenges in our lives. Honestly, many of the things that we call crisis and challenges in America are laughable in other parts of the world. My work allows me to reach people all over the globe. Many of these people are living in horrible conditions, facing extreme poverty and they have suffered enormous loss. However, the thing that I find so fascinating is that they are the most happy, appreciative and fulfilled people on the planet. Why is that? They have refused to allow their conditions to dictate their joy. You have to stop allowing the conditions of your life to confine you. Stop complaining and start being thankful for what you do have. You are abundantly blessed in more ways than you could ever imagine. I am challenging you today to make your life a complaint free zone. Every time you are tempted to complain shift the narrative and start counting the blessings in your life. It is impossible to stay in a bad place when you start counting all the blessings in your life.
3. Gratitude must be cultivated in the heart. Our experiences have the potential to make us callous and hard hearted. Often times pain has a way of trapping us and stealing our personal power. Most of the grief and bitterness in our lives are the result of unresolved issues and emotional wounds. At some point, you have to be mature enough to take the bandaid off and decide to create breakthrough moments in your life. You can keep rehearsing the past or you can make the decision to redefine the present. It is impossible to live in grief and gratitude at the same time. Both emotions cannot occupy your heart. Therefore, you have to confront the grief so that you can start cultivating a heart of gratitude. The more you cultivate gratitude the more you will find yourself living a life of fulfillment and freedom. You do not have to spend a lifetime bitter and broken.
4. Gratitude must become a lifestyle. Unfortunately, most people only celebrate Thanksgiving once a year. I will clarify what I mean by this statement. I am glad that people enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday. However, Thanksgiving is not just a day it is a decision. In other words, gratitude has to move from something we celebrate on special occasions to a way of life. Everyday we should be living in a space of gratitude. It is not just a date on the calendar in November. Instead, we must see gratitude as a consciousness that we should live from every day of our lives. It is a mentality that I cultivated many years ago. When I had nothing I knew how to be grateful. Then, when I experienced success I cultivated an even greater heart of gratitude. No matter what state you find yourself in you always have the opportunity to demonstrate gratitude. When you make gratitude a lifestyle you are empowered to live your greatest life!