quality lifestyle

What are you grateful for? Do you take the time to stop and think about it? Focusing on gratitude can have a significant impact on our lives. By bringing more supreme appreciation into our everyday experience, we can move toward a powerful, beneficial shift in our lives.

By focusing on those beautiful, lovely aspects that are already in our lives, we will then attract more of the same. So by giving our full and delighted attention to what is going right for us — the prosperity, the love, the kindness that already surrounds us — we can magnetically attract more of these into our experience.

Now whether or not you completely believe that, there is definitely something fascinating and uplifting about this concept. Anything that can make you feel better is worth a little attention!

In all honesty, this is one area where I personally need to do more inner work. The all-too-human side of me can get caught up in the hectic, multitasking pace of life at times that I forget to take a “gratitude break.” Feeling appreciation consistently is a process that takes conscious motivation. But it’s worth the effort!

Basically, it is important to stop those bouts of whining and complaining — many people tend to get caught up in the loop of this kind of attitude. Maybe it is easier to keep up a steady cadence of lack and negativity, but it’s not healthy and will not bring anything positive into our lives!

Stop focusing on what you don’t like and don’t want. Look around your personal environment and start appreciating! Appreciate a person, a pet, a cherished possession. Appreciate any little eye-catching aspect of nature that calls to you.

As I write this, there is a blue jay just outside my window, hopping on the fence posts looking for peanuts that I often leave there. I just took a moment to appreciate his visit, his pretty blue coloring and markings, before he flew away. Something as simple as the comfort of your chair, the sunlight streaming in a window can just uplift you in an easy way.

The more often you engage in these moments of gratitude, the better you will feel! As you feel better, you think better — and your attitude improves. You become wrapped in a more joyful outlook. As you feel gratitude toward all that you DO have, a sense of abundance surrounds you, infuses you. All in all, you will feel happier, more peaceful, more balanced.

Here are a few exercises for everyday appreciation:

1. Choose a different person each day to focus on and appreciate. Call him/her the “person of the day.” What is it about that particular person that you appreciate — which qualities do you admire?

2. Appreciate something you have accomplished, however large or small. Did you get the filing done, your emails answered? Did you spend some quality time with the kids?

3. Choose something simple in your environment — such as your loyal canine sleeping at your feet, your comfortable recliner that you enjoy sinking into for a relaxing rest, or an enjoyable material possession such as your new state-of-the-art smartphone — whatever pleases you.

4. Pay grateful attention to something in nature that captures your attention — the flowers, creatures, landscape, etc.

Affirmations for focusing on gratitude:

It is easy for me to feel and express appreciation for others. I focus on all the positive things in my life, empowering them to grow and multiply! I gratefully accept happiness and prosperity from a supportive, abundant Universe.