What better time to practice an Attitude of Gratitude than on Thanksgiving?

Maybe you aren’t familiar with practicing gratitude, but it is a skill that does require practice. It requires practice because it doesn’t come naturally.

The reason for this is that negative events have a greater impact on our brains than positive ones. Psychologists refer to this as the negative bias (also called the negativity bias).

I’ve been there. Focused on what wasn’t working in my life, rather than what was. My negative attitude impacted my behavior, my decisions, and my relationships.

As Charles R. Swindoll so eloquently noted,

“The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.”

It took me some time to fully understand that we make our own reality. What we choose to focus on grows, so why not focus on the positive? If I could acknowledge that just because some things in my life weren’t exactly the way I wanted them to be, it didn’t mean that the universe was conspiring against me. I could change my focus and discover what lessons life was trying to teach me instead.

If you can practice gratitude, it will change your perception of reality and your life will become a blessing. When you do this, you become happier. As you begin to acknowledge all of the things that you have to be grateful for, your life becomes richer and more joyous!

I find the act of practicing gratitude to be a potent one. Not only do I have a daily gratitude practice, but my husband and I also make it a priority to share what we are grateful for on a weekly basis.

Here is my short list of the things that I am grateful for today:

• A loving husband. 
• My faithful friends. I can count them on one hand. I am truly blessed.
• Our dog Oscar. He brings me such joy.

Now it’s your turn.

You can practice gratitude through the act of journaling. Each day, write down at least three things that you’re grateful for. If you are stuck, just start with something simple, perhaps something that you take for granted- maybe your ability to enjoy a sunset. Or your ability to get out of bed in the morning. Keep the list going and soon you will see that there is so much to be grateful for- and not just on Thanksgiving.

I’d love it if you would share with me one thing that you are grateful for! Please post a comment below ↓