2013 has been a transformational year, to say the least. How can you best prepare for 2014? One word: gratitude.From Aborigines to Zulu, Navajo to Eskimo the practice of gratitude is at their roots. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism Sikhism and Hindus all have gratitude at their core. Einstein, Newton, Lincoln, Shakespeare among other touted it.The power of gratitude is the most impactful thought we can hold. With it our life becomes magical and fulfilled. Its inherent power is held by those that practice it. Yet, most people today still don’t know its magical powers because to experience them, you have to have it!Do you practice it or are you a charlatan like I was?A year ago if you asked me if I was a grateful person I’d say, “Yes!” I say thank you to clients or when I received a gift. I also added a smile when someone opened a door for me. The truth was, I was not grateful at all. I had no idea, even in my line of work, what it really meant. Saying the words thank you regularly did not even come close.Life without gratitude was pretty challenging: debt, hard work and long hours, pendulum-like relationships. Things went from fair to hard to disastrous. While I was healthy I was exhausted. Yes, there were moments of happiness but the reality of having to work more and harder kept sweeping over me. I was angry too, at struggling so much. I was not living but simply surviving.Do you feel it down to your bones and through them to your soul? Does your body know what gratitude feels like? Its more than just words.Ask yourself if you can fee gratitude in your soul with these questions:
- Are you grateful for waking up in a warm house?
- Are you grateful the garbage men picked up the trash yesterday?
- Are you grateful for the hurtful things said to you last month because they highlighted your own insecurities?
Over the summer I discover the true meaning of gratitude. I began a regular practice of it every day. I had to began to work with it, just like going to the gym, building my gratitude muscles. By September I had put in motion all that came to fruition in October: debt free, increased alliances and revenue streams, increased energy, a more meaningful relationship and – a BIG and – happier than I have ever been.Are you truly grateful or thinking you are? The test is: are you struggling, tired, frustrated and angry?You know me, it’s just a question!Gratitude changed me and it can you, too.