Practicing Gratitude to Live a Tremendous Life

“Let the attitude of gratitude flavor everything you do”. - Charlie Tremendous JONES

When I pore over the above inspirational quote by leadership expert Charlie Tremendous Jones, practicing gratitude is the key for living a tremendous life. By gratitude we mean being thankful, grateful or showing appreciation for the good things in our life.

Despite being a powerful tool for life transformation, some people do not embrace and make it a part of their lifestyle. Most people take their life and the things they have for granted.

Life is a school, a journey and it has its ups and downs. Life sometimes appears to be unfair. This happens when we don’t get the things we crave for.

We all want to be successful in life. We want to have great relationships and the things that make life comfortable.

I need to point out one fundamental truth about life. It’s that in life there isn’t a person who isn’t better than another. Remember a man who complained he had no shoes only for him to find a man who had no feet.

If you practice gratitude, you will learn to appreciate and savour every moment of your life. Think about you and your age mates. Some of your age mates have returned to their maker whilst you are still alive. Why can’t you be thankful and grateful for the privilege of being alive?

Every day I wake up, I give thanks to God for seeing another day. There are many things we can be grateful for. Consider the air you breathe, food on the table, water you use, a roof over your head, your job, health and the beautiful people in your life. You can’t live comfortably without the aforementioned things.

When you cultivate an attitude of gratitude, everything in your life would change. Life will not be difficult for you again. We only keep ourselves poor by our lack of gratitude for what we already have.

Practicing gratitude begins with focusing on the positives in your life. Even in the midst of your trials, tribulations and the storms of life that ravage you, there are certain things for which you can be grateful for. Kind words and every form of encouragement to pull you out of your predicament must be appreciated.

In life there isn’t anything like a self-made person. Who’s that person who hasn’t received help along the way? Always remember the people who have assisted you on your success journey.

You must always be grateful to your parents. They were the gate through which you came to this world.

They nurtured you. They were your first teachers. They made sacrifices to provide all you needed for a healthy growth and provided many opportunities for you in life.

So many people have helped in molding you to become who you are today. Without the help of people, you would probably not go far in life.

There are certain things that can be a barrier to the practice of gratitude. For instance being a toxic person. A toxic person does not see life to be worth living. They don’t see good in themselves and for that matter everyone else.

They always believe life is unfair. They have the notion that the whole world is against their progress, and that nobody loves them. They don’t put their mind and heart to proper use. They have unwholesome thoughts and polluted hearts.

We also have people who envy and feel jealous about the achievements of others. When they focus on what other people possess, they lose sight of the good things in their own lives. But we should be encouraged to count our blessings, not curses.

The individual’s mindset is another issue. Some people have been wrongly programmed to believe that they can’t change things in their life. For instance if someone is born into a poor family and it’s repeatedly drummed into their ears that they can’t become rich, they would eventually believe it’s the truth and so would not take action to get out of the rat race of life. With such a negative mindset, they can’t be grateful for anything.

When we practice gratitude the benefits can be endless. Expressing appreciation for what we already have is a great way to start your day.

It makes a person optimistic. They believe in positive outcomes. Hope drives them to put forth their best efforts to change the situation.

It contributes to a better health and well-being . According to medical experts, expressing thanks helps to reduce stress and therefore psychosomatic diseases like depression.

When we express gratitude for what we already have, more good comes into our life to show gratitude. The one with a grateful heart will always attract things for which to express gratitude.

When we thank people for their assistance, it strengthens relationships. It gives us a better perspective on life. It makes us have a sense of belonging and shared happiness. You know someone out there cares about you. It makes you feel important and loved.

Here is a profound quote from Epictetus that sums up my thoughts on using the power of gratitude to a live a tremendous life: “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Until I come your way again, cheers!