What has gratitude done for me?

Drew’s Reminder,

 “What has gratitude done for me?”  

     I’d like to tell you a story.  A story about a journey I’ve recently taken.  Now that I’ve reached this destination I know how lucky I am.  You see this was a journey that I didn’t plan.  That’s why I say that I am lucky.

     I’ve always had an interest in creating my own business.  I’ve tried a few and nothing has really stuck.  Luckily I don’t have to rely on my entrepreneur talents, or lack there of, to survive.  I have a great education and great work experience. 

     Before I took the journey I will tell you a story about when I was working with a friend on a new business idea.  The idea was to create a business named Man Appreciated.    The goal of Man Appreciated was to create products solely focused on showing men how much they were appreciated.  Being a man myself, I was thoroughly in love with this idea.  But at the end of the day this was just an idea.  It was not a business.

     To try and get closer to an actual business, I decided to research as much as I could about appreciation.  That is when it all started.  Researching appreciation led me to the topic of gratitude.  Once I started reading about gratitude I was hooked.  I’ve always been a very optimistic, feel good person and the things I read about gratitude just felt good to me.

     Then it happened.  I was called into my boss’s office for a meeting and sitting in the room was the Human Resources lead.  That day I learned that my job had been eliminated and in 60 days I would be unemployed.  It was a shock, however, I wasn’t upset.  I actually agreed that our department was top heavy with management.  There were a total of 3 of us doing the same job and now there would only be 2.  This wasn’t the first time I’d experience this before either.  The previous time I found another role within those 60 days so I never actually left the company.  This time would be different.  I was employed at the end of day 60.

     I kept a good attitude during that time period before I was let go.  I figured things would work out and I just kept trying to make sure they did.  Sometime during the last 30 days I purchased a book on Amazon titled “The Magic” by Rhonda Byrne.  Many of you have heard her, as she is the author of the wildly popular “The Secret”, a book about the law of attraction.  “The Magic” is also about the law of attraction but it is solely focused on the topic of gratitude.  Even though I was facing unemployment I wanted to keep up my research on appreciation/gratitude and that’s why I purchased the book.  This was the best decision I made during this time.  This was a decision that changed my life.

     The entire premise of “The Magic” is to follow a 28 day regimen of practicing gratitude. As you know if you do something for 28 days straight it becomes a habit.  Each chapter represents a day in your life and it tells you exactly what steps to take.  I followed each step for 28 days straight.  I was committed.  I even took the book with me on a cruise that we had paid for 6 months earlier that I made my family take regardless of the looming situation.  I bought a journal and I kept my journal and my book with me at all times.  The Thursday before our Saturday departure for the cruise I interviewed for a job with a new company and had my second interview the week we returned from the cruise.  I ended up finishing day 28 of the book in my new role at the new company.

     Those 28 days changed me in a way I didn’t know was even possible.  It forced me to really look deep at my life in a way I’d never done before.  I looked at all the things I was grateful for, the big things and the little things.  I learned through experience that you can’t truly being grateful for something and not be in a state of happiness.  That lesson was the biggest of all.  I felt happiness that I had never felt before.  Not only did I feel it, I was able to sustain it.  I started to look at life with a different set of lenses.  I looked a life with a view of gratitude.  I saw beauty in things that I had taken for granted before.  I took pride in things I had accomplished that I never really acknowledged before.  I became at peace with myself even though I didn’t realize that I wasn’t truly at peace with myself in the past.  I simply changed. 

      Over a year later that change is still here.  I am a new me.  I’ve continued practicing gratitude.  I’ve continued filling my mind with new information.  I’ve listened to 100’s of podcasts on the law of attraction.  I’ve read numerous books.  I’ve started a group on a company information sharing site focused on having moments of gratitude.  I’ve created You Tube videos about moments of gratitude.  I’ve started blogging. I’ve started meditating. Those are some of the actions I’ve taken.  But the biggest thing that has happened to me is that I have sustained that feeling of happiness.  Yes, I’m human and I have some ups and downs.  My downs only last a short period of time now because practicing gratitude pulls me up and keeps me up more than I’ve was ever able to do before.

     The beauty of this whole story is that nothing new was created.  All of this happiness was always available to me.  I just needed a reminder to bring it out.  “The Magic” served as that reminder.  I now can access this happiness, this peace anytime I want.  The same is true for you too.  Do some research on the benefits of practicing gratitude.  Choose a path that works for you.  If you already have experienced it then keep doing what you are doing.  You know exactly the happiness that I described above.  Tell your neighbor.  Tell your friend.  Tell a stranger.  No one should miss out on this wonderful experience that is right at their fingertips to experience if they take the time to make it happen.

With gratitude,

Drew