The Value Of Being Truly Grateful
Giving thanks can make you happier
When it comes to being grateful, I am grateful for many things.
Rather than preaching at you, to tell you what you should be grateful for, I am going to take the time to share just a few of the reasons I am grateful. My hope is that they will spark within you the desire to approach every day of your life with a grateful attitude.
I am grateful for MY GIFT.
Personally, I am grateful for the gift of writing and that I can use the gift God deposited into my life so that I can make such a positive impact on other people’s lives.
All of us are gifted in one area or another. Show just how grateful you are by using your gift to benefit others.
I am grateful for FRIENDS.
Here’s an example of what I mean… I received a fax(yes this was in the day of faxes) from a friend, whose wife, at the age of 39, had been struck down by a crippling stroke.
When I had found out what had happened to Annette, I started to send ‘love faxes’ on a regular basis to the hospital. The nursing staff would then deliver them to her bedside.
She has since responded with the following letter.
‘The first fax made me feel special because it was unusual and immediate. It made me feel important because the nurses had to deliver it to my bed and not many other people got faxes. That someone cared enough to send them helped me to keep positive. Because I had daily physio to face, your faxes kept telling me I was a winner. I really wanted to walk and it was so hard to get on my feet, but you guys kept telling me I could do it and to keep fighting. I used to keep chanting those phrases over in my head. ‘I can do it.’ Daily faxes felt like you were there with me. I felt really touched that you were thinking of me every day. I loved the story of the paralyzed girl who came first in the Olympics, and the story about setting goals. I wrote my goals on that fax with a date. My goal was to walk out of hospital on the 2nd of May and I DID IT!’
I am grateful for STRONG RELATIONSHIPS.
But in any relationship we must constantly fight against the tendency of overfamiliarity. So in order to defeat that I sometimes write poems.
Here’s one that I wrote for my wife, Shelley.
THE GREATEST GIFT
The greatest gift that I’ve received
Was when she gave her life to me
Chose to leave her name behind
To take upon the name that’s mine
Nothing better than her love
Perfect fit, hand in glove
Complimented by her heart
Treasured moments from the start
Have carried us throughout the years
Of laughter’s streams and floods of tears
Of mountains climbed and valley’s depth
Of borders crossed and chasms leapt
Of oceans sailed and heights we’ve soared
God’s nature claps; a loud applaud
For the woman standing by my side
The one whom in my heart I hide
The morning’s light
The rising tide
The mountain peak
The river wild
Companion, lover
Everything
Summer, Winter
Autumn, Spring
Expressions of appreciation, whether in word or by deed, are vital as you tend the field of any relationship.
I have made it a habit of late to date my wife specifically once a month, if not more. A weekend away, a meal or a coffee on a regular basis do wonders for your relationship. It doesn’t take much, but it is so important to attach something of value to your gratitude attitude.
Don’t just think it. Do it, say it, write it. You don’t have to be a writer to show the expression of gratitude to those who are important to you. Put action to your sense of appreciation. It makes for a strong relationship.
Gratitude is short for great attitude.
I am grateful for GOOD PERSONAL HEALTH.
When it comes to personal helath it is important that I show myself that I’m grateful for my great health by exercising my body on a regular basis.
Now, not that I have expertise in this area. But, I have personally found, as one who was once diagnosed with high cholesterol and has a family that has a history of heart disease, that both diet and exercise make all the difference to one’s health.
It was some years ago now when I was first confronted with the fact that I was leading an unhealthy lifestyle.
However, by simply adjusting the food I was eating and drinking and by exercising at least 20 minutes a day for four days a week, my weight was reduced and my whole metabolism began to operate as it should. The high and dangerous cholesterol levels were reduced to acceptable levels.
In addition, just as I have my car regularly serviced, I make it a point to have a physical once every two years. Prevention is far better than cure.
And as part of my lifestyle I include regular exercise.
Don’t be fateful. Be grateful.
I am grateful for FREEDOM.
So in addition to friendships, relationships and good personal health I am grateful for freedom.
To have the freedom to be what I want to be, to do what I want to do, to achieve what I want to achieve, to worship the God I choose to worship are some of the greatest things that I can never take for granted.
So let me encourage you to pause just for a moment and think of all the things that you are grateful for having in your life. Spend some time to jot down in your journal the things that you can express an attitude of gratitude for.
And whenever you want to complain, stop! Say out loud, ‘I am grateful!’ Choose to always operate your life with an attitude of gratitude. And make ‘thank you’ a perfect part of your daily speech and exude gratitude through your perfectly positive attitude.
A life established on a gratitude attitude is always symbolised by a big thank you.
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