50. |
Practice Gratitude |
Entire books have been written on the subject of gratitude. Rhonda Byrne, author of the enormously successful book The Secret, also wrote a wonderful book about gratitude entitled The Magic.
In his seminal book The Science of Getting Rich, Wallace Wattles wrote:
It is easy to understand that the nearer we live to the source of wealth, the more wealth we shall receive; and it is easy also to understand that the soul that is always grateful lives in closer touch with God than the one which never looks to Him in thankful acknowledgment.
The more gratefully we fix our minds on the Supreme when good things come to us, the more good things we will receive, and the more rapidly they will come; and the reason simply is that the attitude of gratitude draws the mind into closer touch with the source from which the blessings come.
It stands to reason, as Wattles explains, that the more we appreciate all the good we have received and all the blessings in our lives, the more good we will attract to us. This is simply the law of attraction at work. Since we attract more of whatever we focus on, putting our attention on the source of our abundance and on what we are grateful for can only attract blessings.
Regardless of your circumstances, there is always something you can be grateful for. The fact that you most likely slept in a comfortable bed last night is something to be grateful for. Many people were not so fortunate.
Considering how many people are unemployed at any given time, the fact you have a job is something else to be grateful for. If you are fortunate to be living in a free country where you can choose your job and your lifestyle, that is another reason to give thanks, not to mention all the things most of us take for granted, such as our sight, our hearing, and our physical abilities.
The fastest way I know to feel better in any situation is to focus on what you already have and can be grateful for. For whatever reason, many people look at what they don’t have and on what they want while taking for granted all that they’ve already been given.
Studies have shown that people who make an effort to feel grateful not only feel better about their lives but are physically healthier too. Sonja Lyubomirsky, MD, author of the The How of Happiness and a central figure in the positive psychology world, says, “Research shows that people who are consistently grateful tend to be more helpful, more forgiving, and less materialistic than people who don’t express much gratitude. Gratitude is an antidote to negative emotion, a neutralizer of envy, avarice, hostility, worry, and irritation.”
When you understand the principle that everything in our world, including money, comes from our Creator, and you make a habit of steadily giving thanks for what you do have, you will begin to see more good flowing into your life.
Make a practice of saying “Thank you” when someone does something for you. It need not be a big elaborate thing. A simple thank-you will suffice.
Show your appreciation for all that you have. If you’re out on a sales call and find a parking space near your prospective client’s office, take a moment and acknowledge your appreciation. As a matter of fact, if you ask for a parking space before you leave home, if you expect it to be there, and if you show your appreciation, you will find that you always seem to have a space to park.
If you have food to eat, give thanks for all that was involved in bringing it to your table.
If you’d like to see more money flowing into your life, each night before bed make a list of five to ten things from your day that you are grateful for. They may be something as simple as someone buying you a cup of coffee at work or your coworker finishing a project for you simply because she saw you were overwhelmed and wanted to help.
I realize this may seem like a strange suggestion, especially if you have not been exposed to these ideas before, but just give it a try. I can almost guarantee that, if you complete this simple gratitude exercise each day for the next thirty days, you will see an increase in your finances. I can’t explain why this works, but I know from experience that it does.