Thanksgiving Day has passed and by now you’re already 35 receipts and 2 returns into the holiday season. It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and we soon forget, what we recently gave thanks for. But don’t lose grasp, just by being grateful for what you already have enables you to attract more of what you want into your life. Even if you don’t feel you have much right now. You have to start where you are and acknowledge what you do have.
It’s likely if you were really humble you could realize just how much you have compared to so many others. But, you want more in your life; what you have doesn’t make you feel happy and in turn, you struggle to feel grateful. Knowing and accepting that it’s not happy people that are thankful, it’s thankful people who are happy, can help shift your mindset and change your habits. You have to choose to be grateful for what you have, where you are, if you ever want to make it somewhere else.
Why is it so hard to be thankful for what you have? It’s a combination of negativity in our society, the effects of marketing (everyone’s goal is to try to make you feel like you need what they sell) and evolving social media. I’m calling out social media in front of everyone. What happens is you see everyone’s best 10% in your newsfeed. The perfect photos, vacation posts, check-in’s, and flawless *filtered* selfies, then you end up comparing your 100% to someone else’s 10%, and then lose sight of what you do have. You spend more time feeling sorry for yourself than being thankful. Day after day you want more of what others have and take for granted everything in your own life. And it’s very likely that where you are now, you haven’t always been.
There was a day when you so badly wanted the job you have, the jeans you’re wearing, the relationship you’re in, or the house you own. Remember that, be thankful for that. Being in a place where you are aware of the things and people you have in your life and you feel grateful and thankful for them on a daily basis attracts more abundance into your life.
Don’t wait for something big in your life to be thankful. Big and small, express what you’re thankful for: a delicious meal, your health, your healthy family, cute holiday decorations or a day off work. If you struggle to feel thankful, then take yourself back to a time when you didn’t have something. Feeling that absence and remembering your desire for something you once didn’t have can put you in a mindset to again be thankful. If you’ve always had it, how amazing is it that circumstances and hard work have allowed you to continue to have it?!
Be thankful for that.
So, from here on out you want to be a more thankful person. Because being a thankful person will project you toward your goals and your desires and will help you along in your practical journey to a happier life. Start where you are and daily make the effort to be aware of what you have in your life. Consciously feel thankful and mentally or verbally give thanks for them. Everyday you’ll become more naturally thankful. And you will notice more things coming to you, to be thankful for.
