Words of Gratitude

Words of gratitude?

Those common, trip off the tongue, words of gratitude, how lucky I am to be alive or how lucky I am to have food to eat or how lucky I am to have a job or whatever it was I should be eternally grateful for.

I am ashamed to say, as a younger woman I never really took any of it as seriously as I should have.

To me it was something your elders trotted out when they wanted to make a point about you being an ungrateful little so and so.

So, naturally it went in one ear and out the other.

It is only lately, and I am not really sure why, the acknowledgement of words of gratitude seems to have taken on a greater significance in my life.

Perhaps it is because I can now hear all the time, the much younger generation behind me, dismissing those words of wisdom in the same cavalier fashion I did.

I hear them poo-pooing parents and grandparents and elders, just like I did at their age and into early adulthood

"And I don’t like it", says she who is now acutely ashamed of herself for being like it herself.

Their arrogance and sense of invincibility matched with a “nothing can touch me” attitude pervading their snorts of mocking.

The “old fogeys” are just rattling on.

Recently I have found myself wondering why it has become so important to me now.

I think it is because it has just dawned on me, I might have become the “old fogey”.

Perhaps it is some rite of passage as you enter your middle years.

Perhaps there is a switch in your brain that moves from selfish younger person to more thoughtful person when you hit middle age, or your hormones change.

For sure, it’s a reaction to life events or what you see going on in the world around you.

The loss of people close to you, reactions to seeing war or poverty on the news or something happening in your local community.

Whatever moves you; you can be sure as you get older you have seen more to thank your lucky stars for.

Whatever the reason is, it’s become significant for me and I am grateful (you see what I mean?) to have had my eyes opened at this point in my life.

So, what has that got to do with you?

Well, a lot as it happens.

I feel absolutely fully, completely and deeply, expressing words of gratitude should be the next stage you move to mentally after you sort out your mindset.

Go back and read that page if you haven’t already where I talk about mindset and the importance of mindset change if you want to succeed.

In your journey towards your career change, you want as much mental preparation as you can muster because and put bluntly

So,

Words of Gratitude, what are they then?

Well, I have 4 different explanations I really liked and wanted share with you.

I have been reading the work of a lady called Melody Beattie, a very famous writer in the world of self-development from the USA from what I observe about her. She commands great respect as

A woman who survived abandonment, kidnapping, sexual abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, divorce, and the death of a child. 

So if she can find things in life to be grateful for, then so can you and I

Her brand of gratitude is spoken like this and I am quoting her words:

And I rather like the explanation from, of all places, Harvard Medical School

They say,

A thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives … As a result, gratitude also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals–whether to other people, nature, or a higher power

And here is the meaning of gratitude excerpted from The Oxford English Dictionary

Late Middle English from Old French, or from Medieval Latin gratitudo, from Latin gratus which means ‘pleasing, thankful’.

It means:

Or as the modern-day personal development queen Oprah Winfrey expresses it perfectly

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough

And this is very reason I believe you need to understand why this concept is so important to grasp after my number one page about mindset change.

Words of gratitude are vital to success.

Now onto the next stage and some techniques.

Ways to express gratitude

You won’t start truly feeling gratitude until you start practising it.

Here are some of my favourite methods to get you started:

You could start The Gratitude Box or Jar

This idea is one of my favourite things and particularly good to embark on at the beginning of a new year.

But you can start today if you want to, there is absolutely no time like the present

Instead of making resolutions you just know you won’t keep, how about filling up a box or a jar with your daily words of gratitude.

Then at the end of a week, month or year you can clearly see what wonderful things have been in your life that you might have otherwise lost sight of.

A simple walk, a conversation with a friend, a problem sorted with a family member. The sound of birds singing perhaps, the receipt of a bunch of flowers or a box of chocolates and so on.

We take so many things for granted without giving them a second thought but incrementally you realise you really do have a lot to be thankful for.

You would have just glossed over them without thinking if you hadn't recorded them in some easy to remember way.

Another thing you can do is

You can send Gratitude Cards

A lovely thing to send to friends, family and colleagues when you want to express words of gratitude to them.

Amazon sell them, or perhaps you find someone who makes them?

You can start a Gratitude Journal

What is a gratitude journal, you might be asking?

A gratitude journal is a simple tool to write your thoughts down.

Many people swear to the benefits of a gratitude journal.

Some advocate daily writing while others love to do a weekly brain dump of all the things, big or small that have passed their life that week.

You can do whatever is good for you and suits your lifestyle.

My favourite one is the one from tinybuddha.com 

The one with questions prompts and quotes in as it appeals to me the most.

There are lots of them out there; amazon is a good place to start.

You just need to hunt around to fine one to suit you, I am reliably informed these days the gratitude bullet journal is very popular to begin with?

And as an extra thing in your new gratitude journal

Write Words of Gratitude as affirmations

An affirmation is simply a statement of something.

It is a good tool to frame your thoughts and write down exactly what you mean and how you want to say it.

Here are a few obvious ones to get the cogs in your brain moving, they are for use in the present tense.

If you prefix your statements with words of gratitude for everything you be/do/have then you will find it easier to create your affirmations.

Such as

• I am grateful for my family
• I am grateful for my health
• I am grateful for my work
• I am grateful for my friends
• I am grateful I have a computer
• I am grateful I can afford to have the internet

And so on…it is all going to be very personal to you and your circumstances.

It is a useful skill to learn to write your own affirmations

For some help about how to successfully write your own words of gratitude affirmations head the-guided-meditation-site.com for some great tips.

And finally, some words of gratitude to help you on your journey, different to affirmations but equally as meaningful.

They are more

Inspiring Quotes on Gratitude

I love quotes because they can say just want you to in a beautifully succinct way.

Perfect for illustrating what you want to express in your gratitude cards perhaps?

Useful as well if you are wanting to express gratitude to a friend.

Gratitude kindness thankyou quotes are all great for doing that.

Here are 10 of my favourite inspiring quotes on gratitude; why not sprinkle some of them in with your affirmations in your journal...

Be grateful for what you have and stop complaining-it bores everybody else, does you no good, and doesn't solve any problems

Zig Ziglar

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I was complaining that I had no shoes till I met a man who had no feet

Confucius

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Gratitude doesn’t change the scenery. It merely washes clean the glass you look through so you can clearly see the colours

Richelle E. Goodrich

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My socks may not match, but my feet are always warm

Maureen McCullough

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Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out

John F Kennedy

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Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty

Doris Day

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The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings

Eric Hoffer

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Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things

Robert Brault

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Three meals plus bedtime make four sure blessings a day

Mason Cooley

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Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it

William Arthur Ward

Finally, about words of gratitude

Make it a habit to tell people ‘Thank you'...

To express your appreciation sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you’ll soon find many others around you. Truly appreciate life, and you’ll find that you have more of it

Maya Angelou