A thankful heart is a healthy heart. Are you a grateful person?

To be thankful is a state of your mind, not your circumstances. It is an attitude that does not nescessarily requrie that you have all you desire or that everything goes your way, that you sit on that pink cloud… To be thankful is to express gratitude for what you have and where you are in life. You can be thankful despite challenging circumstances. Actually what happes when you express gratitude- that gray day or difficult situation may change. And it is all because your focus shifted from being critical or negative to focus on what you are thankful for.

We have so much more to be thankful for than what we may think. There are so many things we take for granted. Like our health; being able to see, smell, walk……are you grateful for that?

My dad just recently had terrible back pains, and the lasted for several months. He couldn`t even walk, had to lay on the couch all day long. He ended up having to go through an operation and just a few hours after the operation he was on his feet again. He was SO happy to be able to walk again- and even able to walk outside in nature (his big passion, by the way). Everything became so beautiful to him again- and he was so thankful to be able to walk.

This tells me something about us humans that many times we are not thankfull for something before we loose it. Think about that….. I guess there are many things you would not loose? How can you increase your gratitute towards that thing? I believe by expressing gratitude. Let the people you love know it- every day!! Let your friends know that you appreciate them, and for what specifically you appreciate about them. Let your colleges know that you are thankful for working together with them.

It will change the atmosphere at your work place, study place and home.

How can you check if you have a grateful heart? It is said that “what your heart is full of, the mouth speaks”, that means that your mouth speaks truth about what you think- so if you express gratitude you probably have a thankful heart 🙂

How can you practice and learn to be more thankful?

Express it!! Write a note to someone, write it on your mirror to read it the next morning. Tell someone what you are thankful for.

Write 3 things down that you are thankful for every day for a week- and see what happens.

I will tell you what happened to me, my list of what I am thankful for is just growing!

Irene