Are YOU a Gratitude Grinch?

Well, are you?

I know I was!

For the majority of my life, gratitude was an empty word. Sure, I felt grateful. In fact, I began and ended most days with prayers of gratitude. But when it came right down to it, I was STEALING gratitude from myself and others every chance I could.

When we really stop and think about the abundance in our lives, it’s staggering. Yet how often do we say something to ourselves like, “Oh yeah, I sure am grateful for this new home, but if it only had… (fill in the blank)… I would be SO much happier,” or, “It’s great that my husband empties the dishwasher. Now if I could just get him to fix that door.

Get the point? ANY time we trivialize our gratitude, or play the comparison or the “if only” game, we have slipped from a mindset of abundance to one of lack. And from lack, nothing is ever enough.

Real, honest-to-goodness gratitude is not easy to embrace. Why? Sometimes, strangely enough, we think we will jinx ourselves if we are quick to be thankful. Other times, we perceive gratitude to be less than humble. If we’re grateful for our intellect or our communication skills, as an example, aren’t we being egotistical? Nothing could be further from the truth!

Imagine you wake up tomorrow and your world is suddenly transformed. Instead of focusing on what you want, or what you don’t have, you shift to gratitude for EVERY little thing. You’re grateful that you awoke. You’re happy to step into a nice warm shower. You’re delighted to have the OPPORTUNITY to go to work. You see the way the light shines through the window, and you pause to give thanks. You hear your children running through the house and you know they are healthy.

Yes, we experience tremendous abundance in every moment of every day. It’s ours for the taking.

So let me ask you: Will you embrace this abundance with gratitude, filling yourself and those around you? Or will you persist in being a Gratitude Grinch, squandering the many blessings that have been entrusted to you and you alone?

Pretty simple choice, isn’t it?