Today is American thanksgiving so I wanted to take a moment to
share with you some of the mostimportant realizations in my life regarding
this idea of being thankful...
Because it's so immensely powerful and it's probably guiding and
shaping your life at this very moment, whether you realize it or not...
One thinker has brought me more joy and freedom with his ideas than
any other I've come across in a long time.
His name is Dan Sullivan and I'm going to share a couple of his
ideas that had the most impact for me here.
This is my interpretation of them:
When you have more "stuff" than you have gratitude for that stuff, it will
feel meaningless and you will be unhappy Consuming is the opposite of
appreciating
Whatever you are grateful for, you get more of...
Think about it. Have you ever made solid progress in your life and then
it suddenly stopped? Have a look and see if that wasn't the precise moment
you ran out of gratitude...
In our quest for "more" we often forget how great and precious what
we already have is. And what's the point of getting more if you can't get
enjoyment out of what you have? That's a pretty strong demotivator if you
ask me...
We often spend so much time in the unhealthy zone of envy or lack.
What we don't have and would like to have. What other's have that we don't...
And we often tend to measure ourselves so cruelly:
When we set goals, we look to the ideal we want to reach. And all too often,
we make the terrible mistake of judging our accomplishments thus far
against that ideal.
Not only can we never win in that scenario, but we are doomed to
come up short 100% of the time. Not much of a life...
The trick is to measure backwards. Look where you came from and
where you are now, that will always paint a more realistic and pleasant
picture.
What if you want to increase your happiness and gratitude, starting
right now?
It's easy!
Dan Sullivan calls it "proactive gratitude".
Literally, you take a few minutes per day to appreciate something.
Remember that in economic terms, appreciate means: make or become
more valuable.
And that's exactly what gratitude does...
There are so many things to choose from, but if you don't know
where to start, try this one:
"the fact that I have life and can reflect on it"
To close this topic off for now, let me tell you that just 5 minutes a
day will bring enormous changes to your outlook, stress level, motivation
and bring a whole slew of good things your way...
Most if not all of this is inspired by Dan Sullivan's work, but I wanted to
share it with you because it's had such an impact on me.
I believe you can get these lectures on his site, if you feel so
inclined.
(the Gap and the Gratitude principle are the ones I referred to
above and that's not an affiliate link)
Another thinker who's work and ideas I've greatly appreciated this
year is Ken McCarthy, who published a great article today with
some similar thoughts.
You can check that out here:
Well that's it.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the day and take a minute to
count your blessings.
Cheers,
Alex
55 bd Mont Royal Ouest #605, Montreal, QC H2T 2S6, CANADA
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