Be Grateful for Gratitude

In Twelve Step meetings, it's traditional to groan when someone says, "Let's have a gratitude meeting." People don't like to talk or think about what they're grateful for. It's not in our nature. We're more tuned to what's going wrong than what's going right. We can't help it. The cave men who sat around and admired how white the teeth on the saber toothed tiger were, didn't last long enough to reproduce. The ones who realized those teeth were a bad thing are our ancestors, so to speak.

But gratitude is important. Sometimes I just sit in my office, which I painted and decorated myself after moving into a wonderful new house, and I look at all the hangings on the wall and the things on my desk and the books on my shelves and I remember growing up in a house where I couldn't sleep in my bedroom in the winter because the north wind blew through the window and the room was uninhabitable. And I feel grateful.

Gratitude gets a bad rap as being some sort of "feel-good" thing, but it's not. Real, true, deep gratitude comes from the soul. It's not some pop-culture thing. It's not something you say to make yourself look good or to make someone else feel good.

Real gratitude is truly appreciating what you have, and feeling it's enough. Sure, there are other things you'd like to have. There always will be. But in gratitude, you realize that if you don't get the new car or the new house, it's enough.

We should be "grateful for gratitude" because it's one of the fastest ways to appreciate our lives and feel happier. This simple technique, practiced every day, can change your life.

About The Author

Angie Dixon helps small business owners get their acts together. She is a personal development coach specializing in helping people integrate their home and work lives so they feel less stretched and more balanced. Get her FREE EBOOK on balance at http://www.discoveringtruenorth.com. For questions or to discover how coaching can change your life, contact Angie at mailto:angie@discoveringtruenorth.com.

You are free to use this article in ezines, web sites and print publications. If you do use it, please send a quick email to mailto:angie@discoveringtruenorth.com. Thank you.

More Resources

The Mechanic
(Channelled)Roy? What value comes of a mechanic that fills his tool box with all the latest tools and never uses them?What value comes from a mechanic that fills his tool box with tools and does not know how to use them?If one has a box full of tools and has never used them, can he/she be called a mechanic and if one has the knowledge of a mechanic but has never used his tools to repair anything is he a mechanic?He is a mechanic in name only! A mechanic uses tools to create a desired result, the repair of a machine. By using his tools he goes through the motions of being a mechanic, he defines himself physically through the use of his tools and his skills, to aspire to what he already knows himself to be.
Bad Luck ... Or Blessing In Disguise?
There was a woman who was in such a hurry to go to the airport.She told the cab driver to step on it.
Finding Your Passion
Where does our motivation come from? What makes us want to strive for more?It comes from our PASSION, and with out it what are we left with? We are left with our lives in a seemingly endless spin of unhappiness. When we no longer have passion in our lives we no longer want to strive to make our lives thrive.
Four Steps to Attracting More Good Luck
The Luck Factor rips apart the notion that luck is something that just happens. Dr.
How to Make Self-Improvement Work Every Time!
There is an inherent problem with the approach most people take to self-improvement of any kind. There is a presupposition that there is something wrong that needs fixing.
Etch a Sketch or Oil Painting: Where Do You Need to Take a Stand?
Maybe can be a great place. It's full of possibility, it can feel like there's an escape hatch available at all times.
Who Wants to Work?
I feel a loss when pragmatism wins over the mystical. There is a greater magic at work when you engage with Source.
How to be Successful in Life or Small Business!
Not everyone is programmed to be a successful businessperson, many people make it but many more fail along the way.A large part of your future success will depend on your P.
Limiting Perceptions and Broadening Horizons
If you live in modern society I'm sure at some point in your life you've sat in a window seat of an airplane looking down at the fluffy blanket of clouds and thought to yourself, 'Wow, it's so big and flat, fluffy and soft, I wonder what it would feel like to lay down on that super-soft mattress.' Well, think about what Socrates, Lao Tsu, Confucius, Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Moses or Mohammed would have thought if they saw the same sight that we pretty much take for granted as 'normality'.
Getting What You Want Most From Other People
Very often in relationships we do not seem to be able to get the one thing we want more thananything else - the approval of other people. In fact the more we want it the more difficultit can be to turn the situation around.
Your Mind is a Battlefield
Every person should enjoy life in abundance and prosperity, but unfortunately, too many of God's people are living way below their potential. So many have health issues, broken relationships, and/or no money in their bank account.
True Friends Are Not Dream-Slashers
A friendship poem:Choose friends wisely, the portrait they paintIs who you are and who you ain't.Friendship is life's great supportWhen friends are of the right sort.
Buying the Myth
So much life conditioning inhibits the brilliance that is in you. Are you accessing all that is available to you? As a brilliant coach, as a brilliant human-being, as a brilliant spiritual being, as a bright light in the world, you have access to so much abundance.
Change Your Association
Do you know any people who seem to attract bad luck?I had a friend years ago that just could not seem to get it together. He was in and out of jobs, had poor relationships, had no money, and had a bad attitude.
Successful Living: 9 Universal Laws
1. The Law of BalanceI got an email from a wise friend the other day who had this to say,"Whenever I am out of balance in one area of my life, I usually end up binging, (going to excess) in some other area of my life.
The Universal Law of Attraction Never, Ever Goes On Strike
There are numerous sources on the store bookshelves and the Internet that cover the topic of how our Consciousness shapes ourreality through thought and feeling..
Feng Shui To Attract Love
Not having much luck in love lately? Relationship falling apart? Maybe its those upside down dried flowers in you have hanging in your hallway, (oh so chic in Martha Stewart Land but the kiss of the death in Feng Shui circles.) Or maybe its the antique full length mirror in your bedroom .
Top 10 Keys to Attracting More Clients!
It's always easier to attract the things we want in life than to chase them down and catch them. My grandmother used to say, "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
Who Are You Really?
'Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have.'--Doris Mortman.
A Fun Way To Make A Living
"You must be willing to do the things today others won't do, in order to have the things tomorrow others won't have." -Les BrownI had planned to spend that Saturday morning quietly at home with my family.

More Attraction Information:

Related Articles

The Mechanic
(Channelled)Roy? What value comes of a mechanic that fills his tool box with all the latest tools and never uses them?What value comes from a mechanic that fills his tool box with tools and does not know how to use them?If one has a box full of tools and has never used them, can he/she be called a mechanic and if one has the knowledge of a mechanic but has never used his tools to repair anything is he a mechanic?He is a mechanic in name only! A mechanic uses tools to create a desired result, the repair of a machine. By using his tools he goes through the motions of being a mechanic, he defines himself physically through the use of his tools and his skills, to aspire to what he already knows himself to be.
Bad Luck ... Or Blessing In Disguise?
There was a woman who was in such a hurry to go to the airport.She told the cab driver to step on it.
Finding Your Passion
Where does our motivation come from? What makes us want to strive for more?It comes from our PASSION, and with out it what are we left with? We are left with our lives in a seemingly endless spin of unhappiness. When we no longer have passion in our lives we no longer want to strive to make our lives thrive.
Four Steps to Attracting More Good Luck
The Luck Factor rips apart the notion that luck is something that just happens. Dr.
How to Make Self-Improvement Work Every Time!
There is an inherent problem with the approach most people take to self-improvement of any kind. There is a presupposition that there is something wrong that needs fixing.
Etch a Sketch or Oil Painting: Where Do You Need to Take a Stand?
Maybe can be a great place. It's full of possibility, it can feel like there's an escape hatch available at all times.
Who Wants to Work?
I feel a loss when pragmatism wins over the mystical. There is a greater magic at work when you engage with Source.
How to be Successful in Life or Small Business!
Not everyone is programmed to be a successful businessperson, many people make it but many more fail along the way.A large part of your future success will depend on your P.
Limiting Perceptions and Broadening Horizons
If you live in modern society I'm sure at some point in your life you've sat in a window seat of an airplane looking down at the fluffy blanket of clouds and thought to yourself, 'Wow, it's so big and flat, fluffy and soft, I wonder what it would feel like to lay down on that super-soft mattress.' Well, think about what Socrates, Lao Tsu, Confucius, Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Moses or Mohammed would have thought if they saw the same sight that we pretty much take for granted as 'normality'.
Getting What You Want Most From Other People
Very often in relationships we do not seem to be able to get the one thing we want more thananything else - the approval of other people. In fact the more we want it the more difficultit can be to turn the situation around.
Your Mind is a Battlefield
Every person should enjoy life in abundance and prosperity, but unfortunately, too many of God's people are living way below their potential. So many have health issues, broken relationships, and/or no money in their bank account.
True Friends Are Not Dream-Slashers
A friendship poem:Choose friends wisely, the portrait they paintIs who you are and who you ain't.Friendship is life's great supportWhen friends are of the right sort.
Buying the Myth
So much life conditioning inhibits the brilliance that is in you. Are you accessing all that is available to you? As a brilliant coach, as a brilliant human-being, as a brilliant spiritual being, as a bright light in the world, you have access to so much abundance.
Change Your Association
Do you know any people who seem to attract bad luck?I had a friend years ago that just could not seem to get it together. He was in and out of jobs, had poor relationships, had no money, and had a bad attitude.
Successful Living: 9 Universal Laws
1. The Law of BalanceI got an email from a wise friend the other day who had this to say,"Whenever I am out of balance in one area of my life, I usually end up binging, (going to excess) in some other area of my life.
The Universal Law of Attraction Never, Ever Goes On Strike
There are numerous sources on the store bookshelves and the Internet that cover the topic of how our Consciousness shapes ourreality through thought and feeling..
Feng Shui To Attract Love
Not having much luck in love lately? Relationship falling apart? Maybe its those upside down dried flowers in you have hanging in your hallway, (oh so chic in Martha Stewart Land but the kiss of the death in Feng Shui circles.) Or maybe its the antique full length mirror in your bedroom .
Top 10 Keys to Attracting More Clients!
It's always easier to attract the things we want in life than to chase them down and catch them. My grandmother used to say, "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
Who Are You Really?
'Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have.'--Doris Mortman.
A Fun Way To Make A Living
"You must be willing to do the things today others won't do, in order to have the things tomorrow others won't have." -Les BrownI had planned to spend that Saturday morning quietly at home with my family.