Taking on an Attitude of Gratitude

"A single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer." - Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

Adopting a gratitude attitude can do wonders for your personal relationships and your family! One of the worst "diseases of attitude" is groaning. When you complain, you are not only focusing on what is wrong, you are also making sure everyone else around you is focusing on what is wrong too. The bad part about complaining is that you only add to whatever is wrong.

By shifting your thoughts to what is "right" � in every situation -- you will soon discover that all events are essentially neutral and it is your attitude that determines whether or not something negative has transpired.

So, the next time you see that you are not pleased in how a situation was taken care of � educate yourself from what happened and determine what could be done differently the next time. Stretch yourself and think of what it would be like to be grateful that the situation happened just as it did. Maybe you can think that you are "freed" from something much worse. Let yourself to genuinely feel grateful for the experience and all it brought you - maybe you could find the present in it for you.

At the last hour of every single day, I review what happened in my day and think of ways to get ready for the next day. Part of my review is where I feel gratitude for the blessings I received � maybe it was in the form of an unexpected phone call from a person in my vision team; maybe it came in the shape of book orders; or possibly an email from someone who was touched by my newsletter. These things remind me about what I do and why I do it. By adjoining in with the blessings that I had to do with, I get refueled for the next day�s agenda. Hopefully you can feel the same way I do!

Emily Bouchard has a Masters in Social Work and a Bachelors degree in Child Development. Emily is also a caring step-mother to two step daughters. She publishes a free Blended Families newsletter. Webmasters! Get a statistically unique version of this "attitude of gratitude" article.