Thankfulness Is A Virtue

“Keep a grateful journal. Every night, list five things that happened this day that you are grateful for. What it will begin to do is change your perspective of your day and your life. If you can learn to focus on what you have, you will always see that the universe is abundant; you will have more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never have enough.” ~ Oprah Winfrey … 

When we appreciate something in our lives it generally becomes easy for us to take that thing for granted simply because we tend to forget just how valuable it is to us and how much we appreciate it. Being the forgetful person that I am, I generally need constant reminders to keep focused on gratitude, for as the day passes by, and new challenges, tasks, and experiences present themselves, I tend to lose sight of many of the nice things from earlier. Yet when I take the time to remind myself that there are things in my life for which I am truly grateful–a daily routine, meditation, prayer, note, journal, or something that brings my focus on the blessings I have available to me right now–I recognize how rich my life is, even in the midst of all the noise, busyness, and confusion.

Another important aspect of the day is maintaining my focus and constantly being aware of when it begins to stray. By seeking to change my negative perspectives into more positive outlooks and attitudes, I keep a higher level of clarity in my life which paints a much more accurate picture of what is going right and helps me to better see the blessings even in the midst of the hurdles and difficulties. So often, we tend to get so focused on the bad things that a refreshing perspective–taking a moment to create a simple list of the goodness and beauty that is real and tangible in our lives–can be all that is necessary to spark positive change.

All that Oprah is suggesting here is an active engagement in our lives instead of the passive approach we so often fall back to. When we are content to simply let life pass us by, we live unaware of what is actually happening all around us–a form of merely existing and not living. But life rewards action, and our perspectives can only grow more abundant if we actively use them and expand them.

Life is made up of a series of todays. And the positive outlooks and attitudes we embrace can have just as much of an effect on the moments of our life as what actually happens in those moments. When we are able to change our perspective on the current day we are living, our perspective on life begins to shift as well, and we open ourselves up to new and exciting opportunities for growth and change, knowledge and understanding, and purpose and fulfillment.

Make a list of ten things that you are grateful for.

Questions to consider:

What kinds of things do you have in your life today for which you can be grateful if you choose to be?

How many positive things slip by us without our acknowledgment that they are, indeed, things for which to be grateful?

Why do so few of us take an active approach to our lives?

For further thought:

“Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that thankfulness is indeed virtue. Gratitude is something we very much need to show.” ~ William J. Bennett, Moral Compass