When you are feeling your lowest, I’m sure you can’t imagine one thing to be grateful for. When you think you are deprived, your feelings and thoughts revolve around what you don’t have. You may not believe you deserve for good things to happen to you. Being grateful and thinking along the lines of the good that is in your life brings more good to you. Admit it, even you are sick of hearing you whine. It gets you nowhere and it just brings more negative upon you.

Why not give gratitude a try? Look around you and notice the good that is in your life. Even if it isn’t perfect, acting as if will bring you immeasurable things. We must be grateful for and appreciate the things we do have before more will be given to us. Say thank you for what you do have. If you concentrate on finding the good in every situation you encounter, you will find a life filled with gratitude and wonder. You have nothing to lose, so why not?

If you don’t know what to be grateful for, be grateful for everything. Everything presents an opportunity for us to be grateful. It is an opportunity to learn and to grow. When you look at the things in your life, even if they do not measure up to what you perceive as perfect, be grateful. Appreciate what you do have. Pretend, fake it, force it if you must. It may not seem logical to you, it may not seem practical, but you will start to see changes. Your attitude may be the first to change. You will start to accept what you do have. You will start to act ‘as if’.

If you expand your thinking in gratitude, it will boost your well-being. It is the forgotten factor in your happiness. It means taking nothing for granted. Be thankful that you woke up in the morning and have another day before you with limitless opportunities. Once you make a habit of looking at things and being grateful for them, it will help you begin receiving the abundance that you deserve. It will open you up to the fullness that life offers you to be a part of.

Gratitude seems to be the secret that successful people have that the rest of us don’t. But it doesn’t have to remain that way. Gratitude is a very powerful force. After you accept what you do have and feel gratitude for it, everything will change. Things that you need will come to you. You have practiced and acknowledged feeling grateful for what you do have. That will free you and bring better to you because you have cleared the way for more. Whenever you encounter a problem, summon up gratitude. There are lessons to be learned everywhere. Be grateful for the problem and the lesson that you will learn.

You may have gone without, you may be deprived of certain things, and you may have difficult circumstances and feel as if you have nothing. Accept what you do have. Be grateful for what you do have. It doesn’t mean that is what you will always have. It just means that where you are today is where you are supposed to be. Before you can get more, you must be grateful for what you have right now. Make it a point to write down three things you are grateful for in your life every night. It will open a path for more to come.

Be aware of your feelings and never believe that all you have is all you can have. Make awareness a goal. You were destined for great things. Believe that is true. Be aware that thinking alone is not enough. Act as if. What you believe will come to you once you are grateful for what already is. It’s the law of the universe.

© 2007 Lori Klauser