Do you need an attitude adjustment?

What if one simple yet powerful practice could radically change your life? Would your life look and feel different if you reframed your thoughts and implemented a daily routine that instantly attracted more mental and physical positives? Do you want a kick ass life that makes you passionate and appreciative? Hook yourself up with the gift of gratitude! It may be the most delicious present you could ever give yourself and the people around you. The golden ticket to lifelong success and happiness could be the regular exercise of one single, super charged, emotional attribute: GRATITUDE.

Gratitude is a basic and compelling practice that transforms your life and promotes massive levels of happiness, peace and joy.  It means being thankful, counting your blessings, noticing the simple pleasures in life, and recognizing everything that you receive.

Be honest, do you bitch about the small stuff?

Welp, here’s a newsflash: when you shift your focus by learning to live your life as if everything were a miracle, you become profoundly aware of how much you’ve been given and how truly lucky that makes you. Gratitude alters your attitude and view from what your life lacks to the abundance that is already present. It’s deep shit that basically puts you on the fast track to awesomeness.

Check out these side effects that happen when you quit the bitchin’: research shows the more grateful you become, you will be happier and more resilient, have stronger relationships and will feel healthier and less stressed. The cool thing is grateful acts and thoughts are often completely free, but make a huge difference and that is priceless. Who doesn’t dig free stuff?

“Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.” ~Alphonse Karr

 Why practice gratitude? What the heck will my life look like sprinkled in yummy gratitude goodness? Here are some fantastic reasons to help get your head out of your rump and start loving life.

Gratitude turns negatives into positives. Let’s be honest, negative things suck. What if the negatives really weren’t all that bad? Whoa! Negative experiences or thoughts can be reframed into positives. Could it be as simple as that? Having problems at work? Be grateful you have work. Wish you could run faster? Be thankful you have legs and can walk. Be grateful you have challenges, and that life isn’t a total snooze-fest. The power of having challenges is the choice of your reaction and you can decide to learn from the difficulties and become a stronger person for having gone through them. It’s okay if you feel like a jackass for being negative and complaining all the time, but now it’s time to change and challenge yourself. You’ll feel incredible and the world will be a better place without all the whining.

Gratitude reminds you of all the good and beauty. We are not necessarily hardwired to practice gratitude. People can easily be influenced internally and externally to complain, gossip and often have an overall negative disposition. We sound like a blast! What if you began to appreciate, praise and take on a peaceful presence? How different would you feel if you let the beauty of your soul shine through and kindness emerged? I like you more already. Often people find themselves programmed to walk through their days without truly noticing and appreciating what surrounds them. Did a bird shit on your head? Okay fine, you can cry over poop or be psyched that you will receive good luck. Start being happy with yourself, others and life. Wake up and live!

Gratitude reminds you of what’s important. Once you put things into perspective, it becomes hard to complain about the little things when you are alive and healthy. Giving thanks helps you live life more fully. A year from now, a month from now or even tomorrow you won’t remember those minor details that were really just little bumps and annoyances. If you choose, you’ll remember the people, places and experiences that made you feel happy, fulfilled and were joy and laughter inducing. When things don’t go your way, every difficulty carries within it the seeds of an equal or greater benefit. In the face of adversity and pure suckiness ask yourself: “What’s good about this?”, “What can I learn from this?”, and “How can I benefit from this?” You are banned from the “Why Me’s”, “Why now’s”. Get off the treadmill of negativity. It’s boring and I know you’re tired.

Gratitude makes you thankful for others and for your own badass self. Somehow it seems simple acts of kindness have gotten lost. Truth is, basic manners and effortless acts of saying “thank you” to someone never go out of style and they can make a big difference. Do it! Call, email, stop by to say thank you and tell the people you love how much they rock your socks off. Just taking that minute out of your busy life to tell them why you are grateful can be impactful. Don’t underestimate your power to positively change the direction of someone else’s day. Maybe they haven’t gotten their own shit together yet and jumped on the gratitude train and you remind them how beautiful and amazing the universe is. Making someone else happy will make you happy. Don’t forget the self-love! Go stand in front of the mirror, look yourself right in the eye and tell that person how much they really, truly and completely kick major ass.Are you ready to be the sassy gratitude powerhouses that live a joy-filled, limitless life? You’re in luck. Here are some seriously awesome ways to play with your newly discovered attitude of gratitude:

Morning gratitude sesh. Take a few minutes each morning to give thanks for what you’re grateful for. You don’t have to do anything, other than close your eyes and silently give thanks. This one act can make a huge difference. If you’re feeling extra frisky dance around and sing out your thanks. Unless your singing voice sucks. Try meditating, quietly (signed, your neighbors).

Make a promise not to complain, criticize, or gossip. If you slip and make fun of someone’s ridiculous looking outfit, rally your willpower and forge ahead. You get a fresh start every 5 seconds!  Notice the amount of energy you were spending on negative thoughts and actions and now channel that effort onto the positive. Takes the same amount of energy expenditure, but the positive has a greater return on investment. Boom. Plus, you might not be a fashionista yourself, so pipe down in the peanut gallery.

Keep a gratitude journal. All it requires is noting one or more things you are grateful for on a daily basis. No special notebook or computer program required. You can get a sparkly new journal and sharp new pen if you desire. Oh, your fancy, huh? Try to make it a regular practice. Before you know it you’ll have a Pulitzer Prize winning gratitude compilation.

Practice mental excises experimenting with gratitude. Stop taking for granted the good that is already present and be a trailblazer for a new way of thinking. Imagine losing things like your home, your ability to see or hear, your ability to walk, or whatever gives you comfort and warm fuzzy feelings. Kind of feel like a joker for taking those things for granted? That’s okay, there’s still hope for you.  Now, imagine getting each of these things back, one by one. Feels pretty sweet, right? Now start appreciating your life NOW because you already have all those things and you don’t want to waste any more time. You Lucky Duck, you.

Write a list of 10 important people in your life. Include the ones you love and perhaps the ones who push your buttons (come on, we all have a few of those knuckle-heads). Now, what are you grateful for about them? Do they make you smile and laugh, do they make you want to be a stronger, better person or do they challenge you? Don’t keep the goodies to yourself. Tell them, write them or scream from the rooftops! Share the love.

Make a gratitude jar (or box or Tupperware container or brown paper bag, whatevs). For a period of time write down what you are grateful for every day. Can be a word, a sentence, anything that you want to channel gratuity towards. You will have a jar full of amazing things to be able to reflect back on. That positive energy will always be there for you as a reminder or inspiration to keep rocking the gratitude way of life.

Go on “Gratuity Hikes/Walks”. Take a hike, run, walk around the block, or take the dog out, anything, just get off your butt and move it, move it. While you are moving your body, mediate on what you are grateful for. Make it a regular practice and see how it makes you feel. My guess is pretty rad.

Give at least one compliment daily. Bust out the kindness. It can be to a person or it can be asking someone to share your appreciation of something else. “Isn’t it a beautiful day?” Sure is…especially when people stop being jerks and become appreciative awesomesauces. You can always compliment yourself. Self-love is the first step into loving people and the world around you.

Once you give your attitude a makeover and start looking for things to be grateful for, you begin to appreciate simple pleasures and things that you previously took for granted. Gratitude is not a one shot deal or on and off again state of mind. It should not be just a reaction to getting what you want, but an all-the-time kind of dealio. Look for the good regardless of the situation. Today drop the Debbie Downer gig, and start bringing your gratitude A-Game. Stop waiting for a positive experience in order to feel grateful. Start living in this way and you’re guaranteed to be on your way toward becoming a gratitude god/goddess.

Play More:

 Vibrational Transformation into Limitless Living with Maureen McNamara & Zach Rehder: Are you ready to Spring Clean the “junk piles” and break through the limits you’ve imposed on yourself? Join us LIVE in Denver, CO on May 28th and dive into the energetic root causes that are creating any “stuckness” in your personal or professional endeavors. More information here!

 Free Video Series: Laughter & Limitless Living can be all yours! Sign up now for a weekly journey of discovery through a wide range of topics from “letting go” to “expanding your energy”. Be prepared to laugh along for the entire ride.

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