3 Reasons Why Gratitude Changes Everything

I firmly believe in the statement above! Why? Here's my take:

#1 - When you look for things in your life to be grateful for, the good seems to multiply. Although I didn't understand it at the time, learning to be aware of what I was truly grateful for on a daily basis was a key element in turning my life around at a very dark time in my past. My friend and mentor, Dr. Robert Holden, expresses it this way: "Before we practice gratitude, we appear to be in the dark with very little to be grateful for. Once we begin, a new light dawns, sometimes a brilliant light, a light as bright as heaven itself." That's exactly how it happened for me. Deep in my heart I'd always believed Love ruled the world even though I wasn't allowing myself to experience that during this rough time. I had read a way to retrain your brain to see the "good" in life was to begin a gratitude practice. And so I began and the result was magic! The more I consciously decided to look for at least three things a day to be thankful for, I experienced - even in challenging times - an awareness of the love and goodness that surround me. All I had to do was open my eyes and heart! #2 - Gratitude is a doorway to the divine.  Nothing has been more humbling than an increased awareness of the divine force that coordinates all the good that is constantly available to me and everyone else.  "Gratitude is a sacred space where you allow and know a force greater than your ego is always at work and always available." - Dr. Wayne Dyer A thankful heart opens you up to accept the divine love that is always available, as Wayne Dyer says in the quote above. Why is that important? Because the energy of that divine love is intelligent, creative and expansive. If it can make the tide go in and out, the flowers bloom and create entire galaxies it can gracefully move you through any life challenge you'll ever experience. Trust that divine love is more powerful than your ego and allow it to guide your actions to experience real love in your life. #3 - Gratitude makes life more fun and fulfilling.  Deciding to live from a grateful heart just makes life more FUN! You feel more satisfied, playful, energized and creative in so many ways. Why? Because love expands all good in your life! This quote from author Melody Beattie explains is well: "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend." Who doesn't want a happier life with more joy and fulfillment? A consistent daily gratitude practice does that and more. And it doesn't cost a thing. All you need is a willingness to begin. Love does the rest.

What I’m Grateful for NOW

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite time of the year. No. Question. Some people think that’s kinda weird, since I’m a vegetarian, but it’s not about the food for me. 

It’s all about the gratitude. 

I love gratitude lists, gratitude journals, TV shows about gratitude, magazine articles, blogs…you get the idea. I even published an eBook earlier this year, “Living from a Grateful Heart: 10 Gratitude Practices for Individuals, Families and Groups,” to share some of my favorite ways to say “thank you.”

This year is no different. I feel blessed and full of gratitude. In the past 12 months I’ve made new friends, blossomed as a member of a spiritual mastermind group, watched my beautiful grandson grow, experienced spiritual growth when I least expected it, started new projects and continued to love and be loved by my family and friends.

To be honest, this year hasn’t all been easy.  Like many of you, it’s been a year of ups and downs. I have to admit the “downs” seemed more plentiful at times, especially when I worried about loved ones in the path of hurricanes or wild fires, supported others through unspeakable trauma, felt the all too familiar pain of mass shootings and lived through a particularly intense election cycle.

Through it all, I remembered one truth. Gratitude is the doorway to love. To my mind, no drama, trauma, challenge or chaos can triumph over love. When the world seems dark, I do my best to remember the light of love. 

When I sit down at our family Thanksgiving dinner this year, I’ll be grateful for these five truths:

1) No matter what happens in my family, community or the world at large, I know I’m in control of my thoughts and how I choose to react. I can choose love or fear. I choose love.

2) While I often see what’s wrong in the world, I know there’s more light than dark.  I see the legions of neighbors helping each other during natural disasters, organized meditation and prayer groups that have been scientifically proven to positively effect mass behavior and the kindness of strangers. I see love at work in the world. 

3) I am not my circumstances. I am, like you, the essence of the divine in human form.

4) The more I am grateful, the more I have to be grateful for. I absolutely know that sincere gratitude expands exponentially.

5) I am grateful to know that God, Universe, Source Energy – whatever you want to call it – is at work in my life and in the world calling us all to expand even more into the love we are at our core.

I’ll continue to practice gratitude and marvel in the many gifts that are constantly presented to me, even in the darkest times.

I’m grateful to each of you and wish you a most beautiful Thanksgiving. May the spirit of true gratitude live in our hearts throughout the year.