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Being Thankful  Is Not Enough!  Finding Gratitude Within Your Challenges Is!

By Doug Nielsen

Being thankful is not enough!  Not in our world today.  You must create it.

You might argue with me and say, “How do you create gratitude? Isn’t that something you have to wait for and then acknowledge it?”  To some, this passive “wait and hope” approach to gratitude is standard. But being tentative in this area will start to shut down your heart to the beauties, magnificence and wonder that abound. 

You must go on an all out hunt to NOT only be thankful for your blessings and express gratitude (important, but not sufficient),  you must take ownership to find gratitude within your challenges. 

Think of the last encounter you had with a person whose heart was full of gratitude.   Seriously, take a second and identify who this person was.  I’ll bet you a $1,000 bucks they were fun to be around and I’ll bet you another $1,000 bucks they made you smile or laugh.  You see a heart full of gratitude is a lens which transforms how reality is viewed.

Interestingly, when a person’s heart is full of gratitude, they do not need to be told how to treat others with kindness.  It naturally happens.  They do not need to be told by their boss to pick it up at work.  It naturally happens.  They do not need to be asked to give and share with others.  IT NATURALLY HAPPENS!

Let me give you an example:

I was at my daughter’s parent teacher conference and her teacher Ms. Olsen related the following story that can transform the way you view life’s day to day struggles.

She was jogging as she does every day, only this day she saw a poor farmer stuck on the side of the road with a trailer wheel that had fallen completely off.  As she smiled at the frustrated farmer she thought to herself, “That sucks for him.”   (I spontaneously laughed at this statement coming from her.  It caught me off guard. )

On her return from her run she again passed by the “now even more”  frustrated  farmer who was having no luck getting the trailer fixed.  Yet something was different for her.  She noticed a shift take place in her thinking.  Instead of thinking, “Well, that sucks for him!” she thought, “How lucky it was for him that the wheel fell off on the flat part of the road.”  “ How fortunate it was for him that the trailer didn’t role and dump all the hay that was stacked extremely high.”  “How grateful the farmer must be for not getting into an accident and flipping off the road or hitting and hurting someone else.”

She finished by saying, “I am going to be more aware of how I view my challenges.  I don’t want to be the person known as the “turd stirrer” always whining about this or that.  I want to be grateful even when problems strike. 

Let’s create gratitude within our challenges this Holiday Season.

This Month’s Challenge:

Remember that I am pulling for you to “Take Life By The Helm” and until next time smooth sailing even in the storms.