How to Strengthen Your Attitude of Gratitude in Life
By: Bill Abbate
Tags: Leadership, Life Lessons, Appreciation, Life, Gratitude

How often do you stop and appreciate life and those around you? Have you ever thought of making it a habit? What could result in your life if you were to do so? Let’s take a closer look at one of the most powerful states of being, an attitude, and one of the greatest words in the English language — gratitude.

What is gratitude?

Did you know gratitude is one of the strongest and most transformative states of being? Other states of being are strong and transformative, such as love and compassion, yet there is something special about gratitude.

Gratitude is an attitude of being thankful. When made into a habit, it transforms your life and the lives of those around you. Don’t you love being around a person who is thankful for life?

“Gratitude is one of the strongest and most transformative states of being. It shifts your perspective from lack to abundance and allows you to focus on the good in your life, which in turn pulls more goodness into your reality.” Jen Sincero

Gratitude as a word has so much meaning it takes entire volumes of books to explain it. Gratitude and its synonyms, thankfulness, gratefulness, thanks, and appreciation, are so powerful they can create an immediate positive emotional response when used in everyday life.

There are so many benefits to being grateful books have been written about a single aspect of the word. Do a quick search on Amazon for books about gratitude and its synonyms, and you will find thousands available on the subject.

“No duty is more urgent than giving thanks.” James Allen

Benefits of gratitude

There are so many benefits to developing gratitude in life it would be impossible to list them all here. A significant amount of research has been done over the years, scientifically proving its benefits. A sampling of the benefits of gratitude includes improvements in:

Career

Marriage

Friendships and relationships

Happiness

Overall physical health

Psychological well-being

Social health

Personality

Mental strength

Self-esteem

Sleep

Emotional intelligence

Empathy

Reducing aggression

Likeability

Optimism

Spiritualism

Decision making

Understanding your purpose

Reducing stress

If you wish to learn more about benefits and studies on gratitude, check out this insightful article at positivepsychology.com.

“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” Brian Tracy

How to develop the habit of the attitude of gratitude

It’s easy to begin developing the habit of gratefulness in your life. Habits come through repetition. When you practice any of the following methods repeatedly, it will become a natural part of who you are.

Daily Gratitude Journal. Some people use a Daily Gratitude Journal to build thankfulness into their lives. You can purchase many varieties of such journals online or in most bookstores.

Use your calendar. A simple way to begin developing gratitude is to add an appointment on your calendar, specifically for being thankful. Set it at the same time each day when you may have a few minutes of quiet. Do your best to write down several things for which you are thankful each time.

Going to sleep. My wife likes to think about what she is grateful for as she falls to sleep. She said to me just this morning on a walk in our neighborhood how it is especially helpful when her mind is racing to relax her so she can go to sleep more quickly.

Upon waking. For me, I use the first few minutes after waking each morning to count some of the things for which I am grateful. With so many blessings in my life, it amazes me how many new things I regularly find to add to my list.

“When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.” Tecumseh

Whenever possible, write down those things for which you are grateful. The written word will make it even more powerful and impactful in your life.

A little inspiration for you

To inspire you to become grateful in your life, look again at the list of benefits above. However, most importantly, realize that anything you are thankful for and appreciate in life appreciates in value to you. I frequently use the phrase:

What you appreciate, appreciates.

Another wonderful benefit to appreciating things in life, especially people, is the more you appreciate them, the more your behaviors show it. As they see your behaviors, they will become more grateful for you in their life.

What better gift can you give a spouse or friend than being grateful for them, and them being grateful for you in return? That makes life worthwhile and is what life is all about!

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” Voltaire

Final words

If you are thankful with daily consistency, you will develop the habit of or attitude of gratitude, and your life will be forever changed and improved. This habit alone will add a great deal of calm, peace, joy, and health to your life. The value of that is invaluable!

I leave you with a final quote to contemplate:

“In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I challenge you to go forth and be grateful every day of your life so you can live the best life possible!