Category Archives: Gratitude

Have an Attitude of Gratitude

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“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough” – Oprah Winfrey

Life isn’t always butterflies and rainbows. Sometimes life can be difficult, complicated and messy.

And, you don’t have the power to always control all the external factors to be exactly how you may want them to be in your life. However, you can choose your thoughts, feelings and words. You can choose your response or reaction to those external factors.

You have a choice when it comes to your perspective and you can decide which mindset you choose to navigate your experiences through, one of lack (fixed) or one of abundance (abundance).

Choose an Attitude of Gratitude.

It’s imperative to find and focus on the good. And allow yourself to soak up all the abundance and wonder life has to offer. It’s so much more fun than complaining and being negative all the time.

Practicing gratitude: Remember to be thankful when you wake up in the morning!

Research shows that practicing and expressing gratitude is associated with improvements to one’s mental well-being, as well as decreased stress and anxiety. Additionally, success in life starts with acknowledging what you already have.

Many successful people share a similar daily ritual that helps them achieve short-term and long-term success: making a list of what they are grateful for.

“What we focus on, what we put our attention on really determines how we feel about that particular day or our life in general,” states Arianna Huffington.

A study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that people who wrote about their gratitude over a period of time showed greater signs of emotional well-being compared to people who wrote about negative or neutral life events.

Practicing gratitude trains your brain to feel more positive emotions, appreciate good experiences, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships; all of which contribute to improved mental health.

“Gratitude is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the more powerful it becomes. And being grateful doesn’t just make other people happy—it makes you happy, too! That’s because it focuses your attention on the positive things in your life, not the negative ones,” explains Oprah Winfrey.

When you begin to focus more on what really matters and choosing to see your reality from the lens of contentment. This allows you to eliminate unnecessary wants that could sabotage your vision and purpose. It might derail your pursuit of true happiness.

It may not feel natural at first to focus on appreciating what you already have, but by faithfully practicing the daily habits of gratitude, you’ll begin to change your conditioning and strengthen the gratitude muscle.

Bottomline: Always live in gratitude for what you have.

“Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter what happened in my life.” — Oprah Winfrey

References:

  1. https://www.oprah.com/spirit/oprahs gratitude-journal-oprah-on-gratitude
  2. https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/02/16/how-arianna-huffington-tony-robbins-and-oprah-use-gratitude-to-succeed.html

Improve Your Life

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“The key to happiness is really progress and growth and constantly working on yourself and developing something.” —Lewis Howes

Self-improvement, improvement of one’s mind, character, habits, and life through one’s own efforts. Life only changes as a result of the improvements you make by the actions you take.

Here are 10 Things You Should Do Every Day to improve your life.

1) Get out in nature

You probably seriously underestimate how important this is. (Actually, there’s research that says you do.) Being in nature reduces stress, makes you more creative, improves your memory and may even make you a better person.

2) Exercise

We all know how important this is, but few people do it consistently. Other than health benefits too numerous to mention, exercise makes you smarter, happier, improves sleep, increases libido and makes you feel better about your body. A Harvard study that has tracked a group of men for more than 70 years identified it as one of the secrets to a good life.

3) Spend time with friends and family

Harvard happiness expert Daniel Gilbert identified this as one of the biggest sources of happiness in our lives. Relationships are worth more than you think (approximately an extra $131,232 a year.) Not feeling socially connected can make you stupider and kill you. Loneliness can lead to heart attack, stroke and diabetes. The longest lived people on the planet all place a strong emphasis on social engagement and good relationships are more important to a long life than even exercise. Friends are key to improving your life. Share good news and enthusiatically respond when others share good news with you to improve your relationships. Want to instantly be happier? Do something kind for them.

Every morning send a friend, family member or co-worker an email (or text) to say thanks for something. There’s tons of research showing that over time, this alone – one simple email a day – can make you happier.

Harvard professor Shawn Achor’s The Happiness Advantage explains:

“This is why I often ask managers to write an e-mail of praise or thanks to a friend, family member, or colleague each morning before they start their day’s work—not just because it contributes to their own happiness, but because it very literally cements a relationship.”

4) Express gratitude

Gratitude is more powerful than you realize. In an experiment, people were asked to spend some time helping a student improve a job application cover letter. After they sent their feedback, the student replied with a message, “I just wanted to let you know that I received your feedback on my cover letter,” and asked for help with another one in the next three days. Only 32% of the people helped. When the student added just eight words—“Thank you so much! I am really grateful”—the rate of helping doubled to 66%.

In another experiment, after people helped one student, a different student asked them for help. Being thanked by the first student boosted helping rates from 25% to 55%. The punch line: a little thanks goes a long way, not only for encouraging busy people to help you, but also for motivating them to help others like you.

Plus, by expressing gratitude:

  • It will make you happier.
  • It will improve your relationships.
  • It can make you a better person.
  • It can make life better for everyone around you.

5) Meditate

Meditation can increase happiness, meaning in life, social support and attention span while reducing anger, anxiety, depression and fatigue. Along similar lines, prayer can make you feel better — even if you’re not religious.

6) Get enough sleep

You can’t cheat yourself on sleep and not have it affect you. Being tired actually makes it harder to be happy. Lack of sleep = more likely to get sick. “Sleeping on it” does improve decision making. Lack of sleep can make you more likely to behave unethically. There is such a thing as beauty sleep.

Naps are great too. Naps increase alertness and performance on the job, enhance learning ability and purge negative emotions while enhancing positive ones. Here’s how to improve your naps.

7) Challenge yourself

Learning another language can keep your mind sharp. Music lessons increase intelligence. Challenging your beliefs strengthens your mind. Increasing willpower just takes a little effort each day and it’s more responsible for your success than IQ. Not getting an education or taking advantage of opportunities are two of the things people look back on their lives and regret the most.

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” Ernest Hemingway

8) Laugh

People who use humor to cope with stress have better immune systems, reduced risk of heart attack and stroke, experience less pain during dental work and live longer. Laughter should be like a daily vitamin. Just reminiscing about funny moments can improve your relationship. Humor has many benefits.

9) Touch someone

Touching can reduce stress, improve team performance, and help you be persuasive. Hugs make you happier. Intimate contact may help prevent heart attacks and cancer, improve your immune system and extend your life.

10) Be optimistic

Optimism can make you healthier, happier and extend your life. The Army teaches it in order to increase mental toughness in soldiers. Being confident improves performance.

Bonus:

Email a good friend and make plans.

Research says that to keep friendships alive, you should stay in touch every 2 weeks.

Got 14 friends, then you need to be emailing somebody every day and making plans to get together. Research shows the best use of electronic communication, like email or social media, is to facilitate face-to-face interaction:

The results were unequivocal. “The greater the proportion of face-to-face interactions, the less lonely you are,” John T. Cacioppo, author of “Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection” says. “The greater the proportion of online interactions, the lonelier you are.” 

Facebook is merely a tool, and like any tool, its effectiveness will depend on its user. “If you use Facebook to increase face-to-face contact,” Cacioppo says, “it increases social capital.” So if social media let you organize a game of football among your friends, that’s healthy. If you turn to social media instead of playing football, however, that’s unhealthy.

“Beginning today, set an intention and a relentless focus on living your life as the greatest person you can be, in all situations.” —Brendon Burchard

References:

  1. https://bakadesuyo.com/2012/05/what-10-things-should-you-do-every-day-to-imp/
  2. https://bakadesuyo.com/2013/07/make-your-life-better/

Mindfulness: Being Mindful

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Research suggests mindfulness influences how you interpret the world.

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” ~ Nelson Mandela

To live mindfully is to live in the moment and reawaken oneself to the present, rather than dwelling on the past or anticipating the future. To be mindful is to observe and label thoughts, feelings, sensations in the body in an objective manner.

Mindfulness can help you achieve greater understanding, which in and of itself will bring you peace. It will also help you develop greater inner strength. This will enable you to make better choices in your lives, which will lead to a healthier and more fulfilling life. Being Mindful can mean meditating or simply stopping to smell the roses.

Mindfulness encompasses two key ingredients: awareness and acceptance.

  • Awareness is the knowledge and ability to focus attention on one’s inner processes and experiences, such as the experience of the present moment.
  • Acceptance is the ability to observe and accept—rather than judge or avoid—those streams of thought.

Studies show mindfulness slashes stress, relieves pain, and improves your mood. And scientists are beginning to understand how. One study found that 8 weeks of regular meditation and being mindful can change parts of your brain related to emotions, learning, and memory. Even washing dishes can be good for your brain, as long as you do it mindfully.

As you develop mindfulness through your practice, your emotions will naturally change. The reason is that you begin to identify less with your ego, and you begin to see more clearly your connection with the rest of the world. And when you truly see this interconnection, your loneliness will disappear.

Through mindfulness, your anger and frustration will also subside. As you meditate, your mind will naturally calm down. This will reduce the mental agitation that triggers your unhealthy emotions. They will be replaced with more wholesome emotions, such as love, compassion, and joy.

“Meditation is not evasion; it is a serene encounter with reality.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

The more you practice mindfulness meditation, the deeper your understanding of your emotions will be. When you are truly mindful, you are aware of when your emotions arise, what your sources are, and have the inner strength to resist the temptation to fuel the negative emotions, and be able to cultivate the positive ones. This will lead to greater equanimity.

Mindfulness of Your Mind

As you get older, your mental abilities begin to decline. Your memory, concentration, and reasoning ability slowly diminish. This is an inevitable sad truth about growing old. However, not all of your mental decline is due to age, and there is a lot we can do to slow this decline.

Studies have shown that mindfulness meditation helps preserve and even improve your mental abilities. Mindfulness meditation can improve your memory, concentration, and abstract thinking. Several studies have shown that even small amounts of meditation can have a significant impact. The impact is even greater with years of practice.

In addition to mindfulness, another thing you can do to preserve your mind is to keep it active. However, not all mental activity is equally beneficial. Mental activities that require little use of your mind, such as crossword puzzles, have little effect. What has the most impact is learning a new skill, such as a new language. Learning a new skill forces your brain to create new neural pathways.

Proper nutrition can also have a tremendous impact on your mental abilities. This is more a matter of giving your brain what it needs to function at an optimal level. For example, your brain needs a fair amount of protein and fat to work properly. You also need plenty of fluids. When you’re dehydrated, which many of you are, your memory and concentration are greatly diminished.

Physical activity will also improve your mental abilities. In order for oxygen and nutrients to reach your brain, they have to be transported there through our blood, and physical activity improves the blood flow to the brain. You don’t need to do a lot of exercise to get the health benefits. Sometimes just walking regularly is enough to improve the blood flow.

Mindfulness encompasses awareness and acceptance, which helps you understand and cope with uncomfortable emotions, allowing you to gain control and relief. To cultivate these skills, concentrate on breathing to lengthen and deepen your breaths. Notice your thoughts and feelings, and practice curiosity and self-compassion.

References:

  1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/mindfulness
  2. https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/ss/twelve-habits-super-healthy-people
  3. https://mindfulnessmeditationinstitute.org/2020/12/05/find-greater-happiness-in-your-retirement-through-mindfulness/

Life Purpose in Five Minutes

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Adam Leipzig gave a TED talk regarding discovering your Life Purpose in 5 minutes. In his talk, he discusses a five step process to find meaning and purpose in your life.

In a non-scientific survey of Yale University classmates attending a college reunion, Adam Leipzig discovered to his dismay — despite financial, material and career success — that:

  • The majority of attendees, eighty percent (80%), were unhappy with their lives, and
  • A minority of attendees, twenty percent (20%), were happy

He explained that the people who were happy with their lives knew their life purpose.  For this to take 5 minutes, you need to already know the answers to these 5 things or questions:

  1. Who you are
  2. What you do
  3. Who you do it for
  4. What those people want or need to better their lives
  5. How the people you serve change or transform as a result of what you gave or did for them.

The most successful and happy people in almost every field and walk of life  are outward focus and focus on the people they serve first and foremost.

So, when people ask you, “what do you do”, just respond how what you do changes the lives of people. For example: “I help people build wealth, better manage their money, and achieve financial freedom”.  In a way, this can become your personal brand and elevator pitch. And it can be that simplite.

Adam Leipzig is a producer, executive and distributor. and has produced more than 300 stage plays and live events, and one of the founders of the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Your Life Purpose comes down to what you really want to do to serve others and what you really enjoy doing to serve other, in the end. What you feel the most alive and happy doing while serving others.

References:

  1. https://www.transcendyourlimits.com/find-life-purpose

Two Wolves

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An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

  • One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued,
  • “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Feeding yourself with or focusing on negative thoughts can bring out the worst in yourself.

Conversely, positive thinking fuels the goodness within us. We exude joy, peace, hope, kindness, and love.

Essentially, what you focus your mind and thoughts on grows.

References:

  1. https://www.virtuesforlife.com/two-wolves/

Thought of the Day

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There are no limitations to the mind conditioned for success and achievement.

“Try as hard as you wish and you cannot be happy unless you BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!

Work with all the strength at your command and you cannot accumulate more than barely enough to live on unless you BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!

The one and only person in all this world through whose efforts you can be supremely happy under all circumstances, and, through whose labor you can accumulate all the material wealth that you can use legitimately, is YOURSELF!” —Napoleon Hill

When you believe in your ability to succeed…you completely transform your life.

Mary McLeod Bethune: The First Lady of the Struggle

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“Believe in yourself, learn, and never stop wanting to build a better world.” ~ Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune.

Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, and civil rights activist who founded the National Council of Negro Women and served in several capacities during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, including head of the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration and advisor on selecting officer candidates for the Women’s Army Corps.

Tireless, talented and committed to service, Dr. Bethune founded Bethune Cookman College and served has its president. While leading the school, Dr. Bethune also held leadership positions in several prominent organizations.

Because of her dedication to improving the conditions of African Americans, she was called “The First Lady of the Struggle.”

A statue of the Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune was unveiled in the National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol, making Bethune the first Black American to have a state statue in the hall’s collection.

“I plunged into the job of creating something from nothing…. Though I hadn’t a penny left, I considered cash money as the smallest part of my resources. I had faith in a living God, faith in myself, and a desire to serve.” ~ Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune

References:

  1. https://www.internetpillar.com/mary-mcleod-bethune-quotes/
  2. https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-educator-mary-mcleod-bethune-honored-with-state-statue-at-u-s-capitol/

The Power of Faith

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“Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.” ~ Voltaire

What is the Power of Faith?

One example of the “power of faith” is to imagine that you’re a passenger on a Boeing 747 jetliner and trusting that the law of physics applies regarding the lifting force generated by aircraft wings are sufficient to allow an inanimate cylindrical object that has a mass of several thousand kilograms to sustain controlled flight at an altitude of over thirty thousand feet for several hours and several thousand miles.

Faith is believing and trusting that aeronautical engineers properly designed the passenger jetliner, that manufactures, such as Boeing or Airbus, correctly assembled the technological complex flying machine, and that government agencies, like the FAA, reliably certified the jetliner as safe you’re currently flying on as a passenger.

Finally, faith is accepting that the pilots at the controls are adequately trained and experienced to fly the multi-engine passenger jet, that the maintenance technicians were competent and skilled in their duties to maintain the aircraft systems and prevent catastrophic failure while the aircraft is in flight, and that the operations watch standers are cognizant and alert to ensure no other aircraft will share the same volume of airspace at the same time with the jetliner in which you’re a passenger.

Bottomline, most things we do in life, such as flying the friendly skies, are based solely on conscious or subconscious faith.

Faith is believing, trusting and accepting the unknown or that which you cannot know for certain. In a way, faith is believing and trusting what you cannot be entirely be certain about.

It’s the complete and absolute trust or confidence in someone or something. Educator Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune was quoted as saying, “I plunged into the job of creating something from nothing…. Though I hadn’t a penny left, I considered cash money as the smallest part of my resources. I had faith in a living God, faith in myself, and a desire to serve.”

Believing and having faith in yourself will ensure you achieve your loftiest goals. You can say that faith is the key to living a better and more fulfilling life.

“Faith is the first factor in a life devoted to service. Without it, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.” ~ Mary McLeod Bethune

Gratitude

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“Integrate gratitude into your daily life.”

It’s essential to find gratitude every day.

Gratitude means thanks and appreciation for all things. It’s the state of feeling grateful — a conscious, positive emotion one can express when feeling especially thankful for something, whether intangible or tangible.

Robert Emmons, in a Greater Good essay, “Why Gratitude Is Good”, argues that gratitude has two key components:

  • “First, it’s an affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we’ve received.”
  • Second, people should “recognize that the sources of this goodness are outside of ourselves. … We acknowledge that other people—or even higher powers, if you’re of a spiritual mindset—gave us many gifts, big and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives.”

“Gratitude is “an affirmation of goodness and a recognition that this goodness is sourced outside the self.” This doesn’t mean that life is perfect and peaceful, but when you look at life as a whole, gratitude encourages you to identify some amount of goodness and joy in your life.” Dr. Robert Emmons

References:

  1. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/gratitude/definition
  2. https://www.brownleeglobal.com/gratitude-research/