Gratuities Included: Living A Life Of Gratitude

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By Mia Bolaris-Forget

I use to have a shirt that read, I don’t need your attitude, I’ve got one of my own. While it was true and somewhat humorous, and experts suggest that when it comes to living life to the fullest it’s actually all about attitude; mostly about changing the one we have.

They note that while most of us can boast a life of “contentment” there are few who can truly say they are experiencing a full, happy, life experience. And, according to experts, most of us have a “poor attitude”, and getting the life we “want” may means shifting our attitude toward gratitude.

While that doesn’t mean we become complacent or give up our dreams, it does mean that we take a different approach to reaching and realizing our goals and perhaps even reassessing our (life) views and our priorities.

Here are a few helpful hints for living, loving, and loving life:

· Learn To Like and Love Yourself: That doesn’t mean placing yourself on a pedestal, or confusing appreciation for arrogance, but instead accepting who we are and the situation we are in, even if we are trying to do better. It also means truly being comfortable with who we, are and being truly happy even on our own. They add that if we can’t enjoy the moment and learn to live with ourselves, it becomes exponentially more difficult to accept others and to attract success into our lives.

· In With The Good, Out With The Bad: Liking ourselves does not mean accepting even the things we don’t like, but rather making a conscious effort to improve them. And, that often mean confronting the negativity in our lives. In fact, experts suggest taking the focus off the negative and looking on the bright side….and/or what can be done to make a situation brighter. After all complaining about a “bad” situation, won’t necessarily make it any better and in fact often just riles everyone up, making things worse.

· Keep Track Of Your Thoughts: Take note of the things that your focus on or perhaps “consume” you. Then, say experts begin to take note of all the positives in your life, perhaps write them down, and literally set aside time to review them and give thanks for all you have to be grateful for. Experts suggest that while we may have certain “predispositions”, we are not victims of our circumstances and can instead choose to be good stewards of our “fate”, striving purposefully, faithfully, intelligently, diligently toward improvement, but without losing sight of the enjoyable moments along the way.