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Saturday, May 23, 2020

Why Gratitude Can Change Your Life in Thankfulness?

Thankfulness

Thankfulness: a virtue and a dynamic - activates the Law of Attraction
Gratitude: a positive emotion involving a feeling of indebtedness

  • Thankfulness 
  • Passion 


Attitude affects so many things in life. Sales-people are told they must maintain a positive mental attitude because it ultimately affects their sales, sports-people are told to cultivate a winner's attitude because it affects their performance. The laws of success tell us to cultivate a grateful attitude but why should thankfulness affect our success?

It may be difficult, at first, to see exactly how thankfulness (or gratitude) can be such an important key to your success, but by seeking to maintain an 'attitude of gratitude' you are indeed tapping into the timeless laws of success. Thankfulness is fundamentally related to positivity and negativity. It is so much easier to be positive about your life and the things that are going on in it right now when you are grateful. As A. W. Tozer once commented, ‘a thankful heart cannot be cynical’.

The workplace is full of people who are cynical; ready to run the company down, run the boss down, and run the industry down and, do you know something? They can, and do actually produce the evidence that supports their beliefs. Such people are also employing the laws of success but, by talking about what they do not like, they are using the principles to attract what they don't want. Their reality simply reinforces their views about the company, the boss, the industry, and whatever else has been the subject of their negativity.


On the other hand, having an attitude of gratitude impacts your countenance and your general outlook on life and people, generally, will prefer to work with happy, cheerful, grateful people rather than miserable, downcast, merchants of doom and gloom. As a consequence, truly grateful people, literally attract opportunities that others miss or even possibly repel.

The, now sadly departed, motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, once told a story about a woman from Alabama who came to see him, asking for advice. She told him she had a horrible job and that she hated everything about it. All of the people she worked with were unpleasant, and she wanted to know what she could do to change things. But Zig’s advice turned out to be not what she expected at all.

He told her to write a note to herself and, on it, she should list all of the reasons she actually liked her job. The woman was at first incredulous, insisting that there was absolutely nothing she could write on such a list. But Zig persisted and, in the ten minutes that were available to them, together they made a list of 22 things that she did like about her job including her above-average salary, the generous holiday entitlement, her own private office, and so on. Zig then told her to change the word ‘like’ to ‘love’ and for the following few weeks, read the list aloud each evening, using each of the statements as positive affirmations.


 A few months later, he was delighted to notice the same woman at a sales conference they were both attendings. During the coffee break, he took the opportunity to speak with her.

“How nice to see you again,” he began. “How is the job going?”
 “Thank you for asking. Everything is going very well indeed,” she replied. “You simply won’t believe how the attitude of everyone has changed!” It was quite a result!

To help acquire this positive attitude, you could do something similar. Consider the idea of keeping a Gratitude Journal. Would you, every day for a period of one month, be prepared to actually write down all the things for which you are grateful? You know; count your blessings, the way you were taught as a child. As an example, you can take a look at the first few days of my own journal in the appendix.


 What do you think might be the result of engaging in such an exercise? Let’s look at the results of a scientific study into the subject conducted by two psychologists, McCollough and Emmons. During the study, three different groups of people were required to keep daily journals.

The first group kept a simple diary of all the events that occurred during the day, the second group kept a record of only their unpleasant daily experiences. The final group made a daily list of everything for which they were grateful i.e. they kept a Gratitude Journal. The results of this amazing study suggested that the exercise of daily gratitude resulted in higher levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism and energy. So let it really sink in ...

 - A Grateful Heart cannot be Cynical.
 - Gratitude is Fundamental to Maintaining an Optimistic Outlook.
- The Exercise of Thankfulness activates the Law of Attraction.

Additionally, the gratitude group experienced less depression and stress, and they were much more likely to get involved in helping others. They also exercised more regularly and made more progress toward their personal goals. Isn't that amazing? Just by keeping a Gratitude Journal, the study suggests, they were able to positively impact their chances of achieving their goals!


 Thankfulness is an attitude and an important key to success. It is an attitude we all need to learn to acquire and apply in living our lives. It is not only about remembering to say thank you when someone has helped you out (as your mum, no doubt, will have taught you) although ‘as a little bird once told me’ that is a very important lesson too.

 Actually, let me tell you about that. There was an occasion when I was out walking with a friend when we heard the sound of a bird signaling an alarm. Although our attention was attracted to the bird that was sitting in a shrub within a nearby garden, neither of us at first gave it much thought.

As we continued for a few more steps, the little bird remained very agitated and continued to blast out the same alarm call. My friend asked what I thought might be the problem and I thought that perhaps there might have been a cat somewhere close. However, she decided to go over to the garden to investigate.


The garden had a little wall with a wrought iron fence on top and it was possible to see through the fence. There on the path, a magpie had pinned down a sparrow and was repeatedly hacking at the bird with its beak. My friend quickly clapped her hands a few times and both birds immediately flew away.

What happened next is what has stayed with me all these years. The sparrow then flew down and landed in a shop doorway, just to our right. He bobbed his head a couple of times and then he flew off. My friend immediately commented that it was very nice of him to come and say thank you. I really have no idea what goes on in the mind of a sparrow but that's exactly what it seemed like.

From time to time, if ever we walk that same way, one of us might ask, "do you remember that little sparrow?" We are both still amazed at what happened. Could the bird have actually been saying thank you? It may be more likely that he was just a bit disorientated after a severe pecking and had simply flown off in the wrong direction. His apparent bob of the head could have just been him coming to terms with the headache that the magpie had given him. But you try telling my friend that. As far as she is concerned, in its own way, that little bird said thank you.

We did not notice the other bird; the one that had raised the alarm and persisted even though, at first, there did not seem to be any help arriving. But he really had saved the life of this little fellow through his action. Even though he could not take on the magpie himself, he was still able to change the situation.

There are some great lessons in there for us. Firstly, in difficult situations, where you feel helpless, you should at least do whatever you can; who knows what might turn up as a consequence? Second, if you don't get what you need right away, don't give up. Thirdly, if someone helps you out, make sure you remember to say thank you – it can go a long way.

 But remember too, that saying thank you should not be exclusively reserved for those situations in which you have been helped. Whether or not you decide to keep your own Gratitude Journal, start to notice what those around you are already doing – friends, loved-ones, colleagues - often without any thought of personal reward, and be grateful for them. If you can learn to make gratitude a part of the way you live your life, you will be simply amazed at how the attitude of the people around you will change too.

Read More:   What Is The Relationship Between Faith And Success?


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