Written by: Carole L. Sanek, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I can read your mind. You are saying to yourself only 6? I certainly do not want to send your brain into overload with more than 6, so yes after almost 3 years of living in the wilderness of grief and lacking gratitude in my life, I have honed it all down to these crucial reasons.
I was pulled out of the world I knew and thrown into an abyss filled with deep grief, overwhelming confusion, fear of the unknown, and unable to move.
The love of my life had a massive stroke and died in my arms. I can look at that sentence and understand why some people regard this experience as truly romantic, and I actually can understand why they see it that way.
I felt hopeless until one day I realized I was seeing glimmers of things I could be grateful for, and as I started to be grateful, I realized I smiled more, I had more peace in my life and I knew I was coming close to leaving this wilderness behind me and finding the new me.
From the beginning of this new normal, I had been given I would write my thoughts on my Facebook page. I numbered them for 143 days and then I switched over to starting with the words “morning thoughts”.
At times I am very profound, other times I am funny, I also write about how very grateful I am for what I have and where I am now.
As my gratitude moments grew, I knew I was on the verge of discovering just how gratitude can bring enormous happiness to all of us.
1 – Gratitude changes our direction
When you start to see the change in where you are heading, you will also start to see the silver-lining in any situation.
It will take time however most things that are good for us take time.
2 – The quality of your life gets so much better
The moment you start to feel more gratitude you feel like you have broken the chains that bound you. It is a relief to realize you are in a better place emotionally and physically.
However, the day you see yourself more resilient and that you have more inner power you will feel the weight of the world fall from your shoulders.
3 – Oh how happy you will be when you are grateful
I would like to suggest in the early morning, while having the beverage of your choice, write what you are grateful for down on a piece of paper or in a journal.
4 – How about burning the bridges to what you were fearful of as a crucial reason gratitude can kick butt?
You cannot be afraid and grateful at the same time. The more we practice gratitude the less space fear has in our heads. Every day when I wake up, I say two words. I say thank you and those two words take me on the path of happiness and set the tone for my day.
5 – Gratitude will strengthen your beliefs and grow your faith
Whatever you believe in, whomever you believe in when you show gratitude you also have used a virtual intravenous drip of the belief you are not alone. Things will pass, things do pass.
6 – Gratitude will give you courage to do more, to grow, to give
When you have done steps 1-5 and are living your daily life in gratitude for all the reasons I have written about, you will begin to see the goals you have set aside are nudging you to begin to work on them with gusto.
None of this will happen overnight however if you start now you will begin to feel results right away, just don’t stop because it will work.
Carole L. Sanek, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Carole L. Sanek is a certified life coach specializing in personal coaching, with her specialty being working in grief. Carole is also an author, and her first book “Fractured” is with a publishing house in Chicago, scheduled to launch by the end of the year. Carole is especially excited that even though she was diagnosed 27 years ago with breast cancer, she wiped that slate clean and thrived on in her life. Reaching Carole is easy as she believes in transparency and authenticity and welcomes people to reach out to her.
