The Power of Gratitude

Have you noticed lately, the little things that bring positive energy into your life?

• Like the neighbors, whom you haven’t seen in eons, all of the sudden paths cross at the grocery store and they hug you, as they are genuinely happy to see you?

Or the child of a perfect stranger that continues to look at you, smiling all the way as if he’s known you all his life?

How about a friend or relative that out of the blue calls you to say hello, and adds:  “I miss you?”

And then, there’s this friend that for no apparent reason whatsoever, wants to know how you are, and offers to help you on whatever you’ve got going on, and really means it?

How about that $20.00 bill you found in your jean pocket, after it was washed!

All these are indicators that you are, or have trained yourself to be, a person of gratitude, a person….. with a grateful heart.

It’s so easy to get caught-up in the negativity of life.  In fact, since childhood, most humans have been trained to look at what’s wrong with the world, and not at what is right within themselves.  It gets us into trouble each and every time.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you knew how to turn things around?  Wouldn’t be nice if you knew how to stop judging and start loving?  Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a magic wand that could turn your human frailties into human virtues, and your business into a money-making machine?   Yes, wouldn’t it be nice!

The truth of the matter is that you CAN.  It all starts with a small mindset shift:

“When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” -Lao Tzu

When life gets you down a bit, when money is not flowing to you as it used to, when health is not what it should be, when the love of your life leaves you, maybe for someone else, maybe to be with his maker, but leaves you nonetheless; when your kids are in trouble, when you need to face the music and you feel tired beyond belief and beyond your own reality, when every things seems to go on overwhelm mode, it is time, to seriously start counting your blessings.

 Create a Gratitude Diary or Calendar:

1. Commit to write to it every day.  Even if just ONE word! i.e. House, Food, Roof, electricity, friends, pets, love, car, shoes, feet, legs, etc.
2. Anticipate new things you want to be grateful for.  As examples: Upcoming wedding (even if you don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend yet) or future children, or winter home in some exotic place. The list could be endless, as imagination has no limits.
3. Be grateful for your mistakes and the hard stuff in life.  Without it, you would not be the person you are today.
4. Practice LOVING over JUDGING.
5. Express gratitude to those who serve you.  Hospital workers, grocery store clerks, Starbucks team members, and the like.
6. Write a handwritten letter of gratitude to someone who has made a difference in your life.  Perhaps a teacher, a clergy person, a coach, co-worker, mentor, your doctor or health care provider.  Give yourself extra kudos if you hand-deliver it and read it out-loud to them!  (Bring hankies!)
7. Write a letter to yourself for the awesome person that you are.  Yes, you are!
8. Be very grateful for a force bigger than everything else.  Look up to the sky and thank the Universe for all the beauty around you.  For the full moons, and the early rays of sunshine, for the gentle streams, for the amazing oceans, and for the wild life that teaches us so much.

And this is how you begin a small shift of mindset thinking to create a grateful heart.  You will see how things begin to change for you and those around you.

When speaking with difficult or unappreciative people, tell them you want to start a conversation by being thankful for just ONE thing, and let it run its course as one good thing will lead to another.  Focus on the loving, not the judging, and by all means, continue to open your heart to bigger and better things to come.  Expect the best, and you shall receive it.

No matter what:  Always Be Grateful!

Much Love and Success, 

Ali R. Rodriguez, International Business Coach

http://AliRodriguez.com/programs