Self Help Newsletter

Practice Gratitude Daily
(taken from Secrets to Creating Your Ideal Life ebook)

Practicing gratitude on a daily basis can radically change your life for the better, even if you ignore all the other steps listed in this ebook. I had heard about keeping a gratitude journal for years, but it wasn’t until I started keeping one myself that I understood its powerful effects. Oprah Winfrey has also said that keeping a gratitude journal completely changed her life.

You can practice gratitude in two ways:

• Being thankful for what you already have;
• Being thankful for things that have yet to arrive in your life, but that you are in the process of creating.

Practicing gratitude on a regular basis for things you already have in your life is important because it shows you just how much you already have in your life. I don’t know about you, but it’s not uncommon for me to spend a lot of my time focused on all the things I don’t have in my life or all the dreams that haven’t manifested yet. I was surprised when I started doing my gratitude journal, though, to discover how many great things I really do have in my life! From smaller things to large things, I have a ton in my life to be grateful for on a daily basis and I’m sure you do, too.

For example, if you’re reading this ebook it means you have a computer and that is something to be grateful for. Also, if you’re reading this it means you still have your eyesight, and that is something to be extremely grateful for! Think of all the things you can be thankful for that are already in your life now, like the meal you ate for breakfast or the smile you received from a stranger. Not only will you start to feel better about your life, but being in a constant state of gratitude and appreciation will lead to more things to be grateful for because what you focus on expands!

I highly recommend keeping a gratitude journal. Ideally you should write in your journal daily (best is right before bedtime), and list 5-10 things you are grateful for. Again, these can be big or small things. It can be something that happened that day, something happening in your life overall, material items, qualities you love about yourself, family members you appreciate, etc.

It is also a powerful practice to list things for which you are grateful that you are intending to create in your life. By being thankful for these things in advance, even before they have made an appearance in your life, you are actually telling the Universe that you are confident that the object of your gratitude is on its way and it’s just a matter of time before it arrives.

Think of using gratitude in this way as a means of receiving things into your life. Meister Eckhart once said, “If the only prayer you ever said in your whole life was thank you, that would suffice.” Instead of praying to God or Source to make things happen in your life, simply say a prayer of gratitude that the thing you are wanting is on its way to you. Pretty soon, it will be!

If the idea of a journal doesn’t appeal to you, take a gratitude walk and mentally list all the things for which you are grateful. You can thank a Higher Power (God, Universe, Source, etc.) or just list things to yourself. I used to do this every morning on my walk to work, and by the time I got there I always felt so confident and excited about the day ahead!

Just for practice, right now take a few minutes to list five things you are grateful for in this moment:

1. __________________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________________
3. __________________________________________________________
4. __________________________________________________________
5. __________________________________________________________

OK, now stretch yourself and list five more!

6. __________________________________________________________
7. __________________________________________________________
8. __________________________________________________________
9. __________________________________________________________
10. _________________________________________________________

Did you actually do the exercise? If not, why not? Even if you do it in your head, come up with ten things you can be grateful for. Don’t you feel better? Continue doing this on a daily basis and watch as your life improves all around you!

To learn more about my Secrets to Creating Your Ideal Life ebook, go here.