For 24 hours at least, we are all grateful. Grateful for those we love, grateful for what we have, grateful for others who make our lives better, grateful for the small things that in this big world can easily get lost in the shuffle.
Today, even in the midst of strife we can find reason to feel gratitude, to find the silver lining in the midst of darkness. We say thanks to nearly anyone and everyone.
Which begs the question, why only today? How can one day make you feel the way you are supposed to feel your entire life – imagine expanding the feeling of thankfulness, of gratitude to 364 other days. Of taking the 1440 minutes in this day and turning them into the five-hundred-twenty-five-thousand-six-hundred-minutes of a single year. Then taking those years and turning them into a lifetime.
You don’t have to take it from me…
We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather from recognizing and appreciating what we do have. – Frederick Keong
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. – Melanie Beattie
When you are grateful fear disappears and abundance appears. – Tony Robbins
Showing gratitude is one of the simplest, yet most powerful things humans can do for each other. – Randy Pausch
It is not happy people who are thankful, it is thankful people who are happy. – Anonymous
And from a blog on Huffington Post – in a section titled, The Third Metric, this comes from Jamelle Sanders, a leading empowerment specialist and CEO:
“Gratitude is the greatest driver of success in your life. I have coached leaders and business professionals and empowered them to achieve great success. However, the first lesson I teach any client is a lesson in gratitude. While some give me a bewildered look, I assure them that this is the key to unlocking a life of success and prosperity. In fact, for almost 20 years I have written down three to five things that I am grateful for every single night. This exercise in gratitude yielded remarkable results. Not only did I find myself more grateful but I found myself reaching greater goals and rising to my greatest potential. Your life will never be the same when you make this practice part of your life.”
Right now I could wrap up this blog with the signature line, “until next time, thanks for taking the time”… but this is Thanksgiving, wait, there’s more.
I mean how can you really be living unless you are giving? If gratitude is the attitude that changes everything for you, then giving is the door to the soul for someone else. Yet giving is fleeting.
“Once again the season of giving is upon us. Considering the pleasure that can be had by giving – the joyful, grateful bond shared between two people when one of them has been generous, thoughtful, even self-sacrificing – it’s surprising that we need months-long marketing campaigns every year to remind us of how good giving can be.”
– Jamie Malanowski.
It should last for more than just one season, more than just a few weeks. Again why take my word for it, others have deeper thoughts then I, plus there is power in numbers 🙂
The meaning of life is to find your gift, the purpose of life is to give it away. – Pablo Picasso
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. – Winston Churchill
No one has ever become poor from giving. – Maya Angelou
You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. – Amy Carmichael
Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more. – H. Jackson Brown Jr
And so those are only quotes. Inspiring yes, but words that don’t inspire action can’t change the world. Only people can.
At it’s core this is the essence of this blog, to figure out a way to give back, to share the core of what I learn about personal growth, or to tell someone else’s story in the hopes it will provide inspiration, or at least reflection for another person. Stories create a permission factor, giving others a reason to start.
So how do you make thanks and giving last more than a day or a season? How do you find a way to make it part of every day, every week, every year? And why consistently give without the expectation of anything in return?
I believe the answer lies here: Don’t give to get, give to inspire others to give.
Today’s a great day to begin.
Until next time, thanks for taking the time
Mark
Mark Brodinsky, Author, Blogger, Speaker, Speech Writer, Emmy Winner, USHEALTH Advisors
(http://www.prweb.com/releases/markbrodinsky/072015/prweb12862708.htm)
Author: The #1 Amazon Best Seller: It Takes 2. Surviving Breast Cancer: A Spouse’s Story
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