Tag Archive 'Gratitude'

Aug 31 2009

Build Your Future With Gratitude

Published by Karen under Creating Success,Miscellaneous Musings

I recently listened to a video about a man who had learned that gratitude is not something we can pick and choose the circumstances to apply it to. Rather the key is to be grateful for everything in our lives – both those that we perceive to be positive and those that we perceive to be negative. It is the combination of those opposing experiences that make us who we are, i.e. we would not be the same person if we had not had cancer or a heart attack or lost someone we love.  As painful as those experiences may have been, they make us who we are and for that we must be grateful. We have the power within us to shape our responses to tragedies in our lives.

Henri Nouwen, a Dutch Roman Catholic priest, believes that  gratitude must be inclusive. We must be grateful for all of our life, not just for favors bestowed.  In his book, All Is Grace, he says,

“…how often we tend to divide our past into good things to remember with gratitude and painful things to accept or forget.  Once we accept this division, however, we quickly develop a mentality in which we hope to collect more good memories than bad memories, more things to be grateful for than things to be resentful about….  But this way of thinking… prevents us from truly allowing our whole past to be the source from which we live our future. “

“Gratitude is not a simple emotion or an obvious attitude.  It is a difficult discipline to constantly reclaim my whole past… It is hard precisely because it challenges me to face the painful moments… When our gratitude for the past is only partial, our hope for a new future can never be full.”

And here is a video of Nick Vujicic who is full of gratitude and lives that each day.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4uG2kSdd-4

Are you building your future with gratitude for all things in your life?

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Aug 09 2009

5 Habits That Lead to Success

Published by Karen under Creating Success

There is no one secret to success, but there are certain things most successful people do. As Aristotle said, “You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is not an event – it is a habit.”

So fill your days with habits that will help you along the way.

  1. Action.Take action each day by beginning the day with a clear plan. You can not do anything about yesterday or tomorrow so focus on today.
  2. Gratitude. Spend time each day to appreciate the things you have. Start and end your day by listing 5 things for which you’re grateful. Soon, these feelings of gratitude will become a part of your life. When you fill yourself with positive feelings, more positive things begin to happen.
  3. Visualization. Visualize the things you want. Experience the feeling of already having it. Your goal must become part of you and as it does, your subconscious will become more aware of opportunities that will present themselves.
  4. Belief. Have faith in what you can do. Believe in yourself and if you don’t have belief in yourself, find someone who does. I’ve told my children many times when they would say, “I can’t do that” or I’m not good enough to do that”. I would ask them “do you believe that I believe you can?” They would say “yes” and my comment then is “Well then believe in my belief in you.” It’s amazing the results.
    Recall all the previous successes you have had in your life. Use these memories to build self-confidence. When you believe that you can do something, you will find a way to make your belief come true.
  5. Resources. Apply all available resources.This includes people you can discuss things with, or books, articles or multimedia that will help you develop the skills you need. Seek out the best sources of information that you can afford. Read something inspirational and innovative every single day. The best leaders have big libraries.

Remember, when you can create a burning desire by imagining your ultimate success, self-discipline will happen. If you do not have a burning desire, you may want to rethink your goals. Unless you feel passionate about your goals, the smallest obstacle will throw you off course.

The path to achieve your goal may be arduous but if the thought of it doesn’t bring you joy, reassess what you’re doing.

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