By: Martin Grunburg
Hope your Turkey Day did not suck. Ours was fantastic…always fun to see the cousins playing together.
The last post was designed to remind all of us (myself first and foremost) that the capacity to be grateful — to choose our thoughts and captain our thinking — is itself our greatest gift.
How often are we grateful for the capacity to be grateful?
When it comes to being grateful for things, looking toward the gift of gratitude is a tremendous place to start! Gratitude: Having the capacity to identify something and realize it’s a true blessing.
Having said that, here are 11 more reasons why gratitude is a game-changer. Now, if you don’t believe me, I highly encourage you to download the free tracking template or free app (iOS or Android) and test it for yourself. TRACK the gratitude behavior for 28 days and let me know how it goes.
In the meantime, here are a few more fantastic reasons to be grateful.
1) Gratitude fosters peace of mind.
Focusing on what you perceive as missing in your life only creates disharmony. I love Brian Tracy’s statement that we should make peace of mind our top priority and organize our lives around it. (More here!)
2) Gratitude strengthens our well-being.
There’s plenty of science that indicates you’ll sleep better and live a longer and healthier life when you possess peace of mind. This is a comprehensive assessment of multiple studies; while they suggest some ‘evidence’ is contrary, the simple take away says your health and well-being are better off when you are habitually grateful.
3) You’ll be happier!
Here’s a Harvard study if you’re interested, and here’s a fun interview I did with Glenn R. Fox Ph.D., who reveals amazing insights about gratitude!
4) Gratitude improves your relationships.
Perhaps a no-brainer: A grateful person is happier and happier people are more social, friendly and enjoyable to be around. And when people feel surrounded by those who appreciate them, the happiness multiplies.
5) Gratitude improves your productivity and career.
As a derivative of being happier, your productivity (TED talk) is likely to increase, along with improved social relationships. Research says the likelihood that you will increase your value in the marketplace heightened significantly!
I should stop there, but the great benefits about gratitude keep growing! ; )
6) How about improved financial status?
This study shows that grateful participants made better financial decisions.
7) With gratitude you’re more likely to achieve your goals!
People who are grateful are known to be more patient and have more energy and enthusiasm. These are essential traits when it comes to goal achievement; you can see more benefits here in a Berkeley study.
8) Gratitude strengthens your spirituality.
The practice of gratitude is an acknowledgment of forces well beyond our capacity of understanding and an appreciation for the many blessings (including life itself) that we cannot explain. See this article from the Chopra Foundation.
9) Improves self-esteem.
Interesting correlation here with a study of athletes, self-esteem and gratitude!
10) Less ME and more WE!
Here, the Law of Indirect Effort applies in spades! YOU are rewarded when you are not thinking about you!
11) Increased Energy + Greater Resilience
The more energy you have, the better you are able to adapt and overcome, to battle through obstacles. Life is simply a series of problems. Even trying to achieve a goal is, in essence, problem-solving! More energy equals greater resilience and GRIT.
Start now!
That’s right: Begin your journey by being grateful for the very ability to feel grateful. Here are some more tools and ideas to create the gratitude habit for life.
Try a gratitude journal!
There are several apps that can help with this; in this podcast interview w/ R. Michael Anderson, he shares his favorite practice and tool.
Read!
Here are THREE GREAT BOOKS that will help tweak your mind in a positive direction.
As a Man Thinketh, By James Allen
Think and Grow Rich, By Napoleon Hill
The Power of Positive Thinking, By Norman Vincent Peale
More:
Do this: Write one Thank You card a week!
BTW: Here’s a really cool service that will make your card writing a little easier ; )