The secret to peace and happiness is to have a heart of gratitude and not to take anything in life for granted. Think of gratitude in three distinct ways. These ways will encourage you to actively practice gratitude and will cause your potential for joy to surge to an all-time high.
Gratitude is a feeling: It is a sense of joy and appreciation in response tp receiving a gift, whether that is a concrete object or an abstract gesture.
Gratitude is a capacity: IT is the learned skill of uncovering and creating meaning and value in everyday situations and relationships.
Gratitude is a choice: it is a conscious and deliberate decision to focus on life's blessings rather than its shortcomings. Life will always have shortcomings, and it will always have virtues. When you focus on your blessings, your life feels abundant. When you focus on what's missing, life feels incomplete. As you know by now, where you point the spotlight is purely a matter of choice.
I believe that gratitude is a powerful magnetic force that naturally draws joy filled people and occurrences into your life. Gratitude is not something you are born with. I've learned that gratitude can be learned and cultivated throughout our life time.
Some suggestions of having a heart of gratitude:
1. At night, count your blessings silently as you drift off to sleep.
2. Count your blessings as you lie in bed in morning after the alarm clock goes off.
3. Journal your blessings for three minutes immediately after waking up in the morning.
4. Make a list of what you expect to be thankful for ten years from now.
5. Before grace at mealtime, discuss specific things you are grateful for as a family.