The Art of Gratitude

by Kenrick Cleveland

“It is necessary, then, to cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” -Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich or Financial Success Through Creative Thought

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.” -Melodie Beattie

I’m going to state this as simply as possible: when we are grateful for what we have, we draw more thing to us for which we can be grateful. It’s reason enough to practice gratitude every day.

At the end of each of my Persuasion Factor calls and in my Elite Coaching Club I bring up this very important aspect of life, and persuasion, because I believe it should be a constant in our lives, not just something we pull out on Thanksgiving or on Sundays. Gratitude should infuse all of our interactions.

Expressing gratitude doesn’t have to be limited to when we receive gifts or favors. Real gratitude is all about looking deeply at ourselves, our lives, and understanding how incredibly lucky we are for everything we have.

Gratitude is something I think about every day. I have a huge list of things to be grateful for, many, if not all of which, are probably on your list too — family, friends, students, success, health, financial freedom — and I consider this in happy times and sad. I am grateful for the rain, and grateful for the sun, and those few days a year that it snows, I’m grateful for them too.

I’m grateful for simple things and complicated things. And throughout my day, I stop to consider other people’s situations, whether they be more challenging or easier than mine, and I am grateful for the struggles I’ve had to endure, and grateful for the things I accomplish with ease, both, because these are the things that have made me what I am and brought me to this point in life.

Gratitude can be powerful especially if something about our life is not quite right. For instance, if your health is not as good as it could be, instead of cursing our bodies for what they are not, try being grateful for what you can do.

There’s an old Irish proverb which I really love that says, ‘Count your joys instead of your woes; count your friends instead of your foes.’ This is ultimately about focus and what we choose to highlight and what we choose to minimize.

When you begin to take notice of all that is good in your life, this gratitude will turn your life around.

About the Author:

Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of wealthy clients using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion strategies.