Gratitude – thankfulness, gratefulness, or appreciation is a feeling or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratitude).
The key to gratitude is becoming aware of the ‘benefit’ for which you are thankful. Growing up, my family would come together on Saturday mornings to give thanks. My mum made no apologies for this and whether we liked it or not, whether we had plans or not, we met as a family to give thanks. This time together usually entailed all of my mum, dad, sister and me, taking turns, to share what they were thankful during that week. Because we knew that this was expected, gradually, we became more aware during the week of things to be grateful for, so that on Saturday morning, we didn’t have to spend much time trying to remember what happened during the week. We were aware. We were trained to be aware.
Remaining aware despite the many distractions that happen around us is a great habit to cultivate. Because once you start training yourself to become more aware, you start ‘being’ and stop ‘doing’ and you begin to really appreciate the seemingly little things in life that you once overlooked.
In addition, when you start intentionally looking for things to be grateful for, you notice the negative situations less and begin to put more focus on the positive. This, in turn, leads to a happier, more fulfilled life, eventually affecting those around you.
One simply way of starting to live a life of gratitude is to start journaling. Buy a journal or download an app that makes it easy for you to quickly note the high points of your day. As you make time daily to update your gratitude journal, being more aware and more grateful will become second nature.
Try any of these three apps today to start on your journey of becoming more aware if things you’re grateful for:
- Gratitude Journal – As seen in USA TODAY, Good Morning America, the John Tesh Show, Mac World and more!
- Happier – Happier is a fun social gratitude journal combined with a positive community! Be inspired to keep track of the small happy moments in your day and feel awesome when they help someone smile. Named by Time Magazine, as one of the best apps for 2013.
- Thankful For – Thankful For is a personal gratitude journal as well as a gratitude sharing community. Write down a few things you are thankful for each day to improve your positive thinking and overall well being.
Just remember that they will always be something to be grateful for.
delicatelydope.com 
Oh your words so resonated with me!
After a particularly difficult season on my life, i ended up reading 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp, and writing three things down (minimum) every day that I was thankful for.
Doing so is truly an eye opener to just how much we have to be grateful for!
Agreed!!
This was awesome. So proud of you as you are becoming a great leader of the pack. Born to Win. Doing it in your own way but delivering the same message.