Happy Thanksgiving week. Thursday is going to be a big day here in the US and we’ll celebrate like we Americans normally do, eating entirely way too much and watching football. Somewhere in there we get together with relatives and we’re reminded of how good we have it. I think it’s a great tradition (the “how good we have it” reminder part, although the food + football part is pretty good too), but I don’t see the need to confine it to once a year. Gratitude is a value I’ve tried to incorporate year-round.
Why Gratitude Matters
If you’re reading this, there’s a high likelihood that:
- You’re free.
- You’re healthy.
- You’re literate
- You have clean water.
- You have the ability to choose.
Billions (literally billions) of people go their entire life without all 5 of those things. Let that sink in.
You get the chance to wake up in the morning and choose how you spend your day. We can choose what work we’d like to do and where we’d like to live. Lots of people don’t get that chance.
I get the opportunity to write down the things in my head, attempt impossible things, and have people interested enough to read it.
The fact that anyone cares what you have to say is amazing – Gary Vaynerchuk
That was one of the things I read before I started blogging that really made an impact and stayed with me. It’s why I try to say thanks as often as possible and why it’s the #1 word in my twitter stream. I don’t take your attention for granted and I’m thankful you’re along for the ride and for your encouragement.
The Benefits of Gratitude
I’m firmly convinced the more grateful you are, the more opportunities you being to see. Instead of seeing constraints, you see opportunities and instead of focusing on the things you wished were better, you see all the things that are already amazing. I’m not trying to go all “law-of-attraction” on you (it’s a little too woo-woo for me), but I do think there is something powerful in being grateful the things you have, and actually living it out. Looking at life from an place of gratitude gives you a whole different perspective and often opens up doors you might have missed from a vantage point of ungratefulness.
How To Be Grateful
- Think Bigger – The world is much, much bigger than just yourself. Take a step back and realize it.
- Gain Context – Travel. Research. Learn. Look (or even better, experience) how other people live and realize how fortunate you are.
- Help Others – I would not be where I am today without the help of a lot of different people. Chances are neither would you. Pass it on. Need help with something impossible? Send me an email.
- Make a list (surprise, surprise) – Make a list of things you’re grateful for. Look at it every day.
- Serve – You can volunteer on trips or on the weekend, but you can also serve other people on a day to day basis every time you interact.
Celebrate Thanksgiving and practice gratitude this Thursday, but be grateful on Wednesday and Friday too. Find reasons to be grateful this season, but do more than that. Be grateful year-round.
Thanks for the reminder, Joel. I’ve made gratitude a big part of my life over the past few years and I must say nothing feels better than feeling grateful. And you’re absolutely right – it’s something we do every single day, it’s interwoven in our thoughts and speech. It’s a way of life. With that, I end by saying Thanks to you for continually writing awesome posts!
Thank you Hugh 🙂
Hey Joel. This is one of my favourite posts on BIT. Especially the reasons why part. I was just musing on these very same ideas myself. On the subject of “how to be grateful”, I would add something which I think often gets overlooked or misunderstood but which is vitally important: be grateful for what you’re actually grateful for. Not what you think you should be grateful for. Not what you’re supposed to be grateful for. Stop pretending and allow yourself to be you. It’s okay to be selfish about this. If you love your Humvee don’t give a hoot about the rainforest, be honest and tell it like it is. Otherwise it’s all BS. BTW, I don’t think law-of-attraction is woo-woo at all. Actually it’s the most sensible idea I’ve ever heard of.
Excellent point Lach. You’re not being grateful, if you’re just pretending. (p.s maybe i’ll email you and we can have a law of attraction standoff) =)
Email standoff!? why don’t you Skype me, ya sissy!! 🙂
It’s on.
Be grateful. Give thanks and embrace the love and compassion we experience in this wonderful life of opportunities and peace.
It truly is about the year round brother. Each day, each moment. We have one chance to truly engulf ourselves with the connection to the world and relationships around. This is our time. Our lives. Our one chance to make and be a difference.
Peace and love brother!
Patrick
Getting philosophical Patrick! I like it.
I’m grateful for the insightful conversation we’ve had over email regarding ping-backs. I’m excited for the post to be published this Thursday.
Looking forward to it Stanley!
I’m grateful that I have the freedom to make smart ass comments to Joel – both here and on Twitter. 😉
Keep ’em coming 🙂 haha.
I’m thankful for you, Joel! You’re a great, inspirational person. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.
Thank YOU Nina.
Joel, as others have commented above, thank you for all of the inspiration, great ideas and general good vibes that you continually pass along to myself and the rest of us! I’m grateful for the support you’ve given my endeavors, and hope I can somehow be of help to you in return. Here’s to you- Happy Thanksgiving week!
Happy Thanksgiving week Mark 🙂
I have been thinking about gratitude this morning already so this really seemed prophetic. (I’m a Canadian and forgot this was your thanksgiving season).
Thanks Joel – as an ambitious person I look forward for long stints without being thankful enough for where I am now.I now have a baby and every time I see his fat face it makes me so thankful.
JSJ
Gratitude is the memory of the heart. ~Jean Baptiste Massieu,
Canadians can be thankful too! Enjoy your kids while you can. I hear they grow up fast :).
Yes! The ability to CHOOSE. So often overlooked & taken for granted. It’s insanely powerful, this ability.
And yet, it’s also the one thing that we like to ignore – we prefer to remove all responsibility for ourselves and the outcome of our lives, and pretend that we don’t have a choice…because it’s easier for us that way.
Rahr.
Every single day we get to choose. Make it a good one.
(p.s. the “rahr” is a nice touch) 🙂
Joel, we can always count on an inspirational post from you that gives us something to think about and a way to apply it to our lives. I’m reminded of a quote by JFK –
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
Happy Thanksgiving my friend!
You’ve always got a quote up your sleeve Matt :). Happy Thanksgiving!
Hey Joel
How are you?
I agree totally with this wonderful post. Gratitude and expressing it everyday is something I’ve learned to consciously do. In my own experience making that conscious choice to be grateful for even the smallest things in life lead to a greater sense of awareness within myself and a much more fulfilling feeling about life. Nicely written post!
Thanks Baker. It’s good to hear from you again. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
yay Im surely grateful for the clean water! Even for my favorite toothbrush! Thank you for your post. 😛
“In our daily lives, we must see that it is not happiness that makes us
I am thankful for the inspiration that I felt one Saturday morning in April of this year to write a blog each day. Two days later I began writing one to two hours EVERY DAY about what I am thankful for at goodmorninggratitude.com. It has been 220 days in a row now. Focusing on gratitude for an average of ten hours per week has profoundly changed my life!