Gratitude 30/60

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."Melody Beattie, author

Tomorrow is October 25th. One month before we celebrate Thanksgiving on November 25th and Christmas on December 25th. It seems like a good time to remember the life changing power of gratitude and to set an intention to more actively practice it in my life for the next 30 and 60 days leading up to those holidays.

As leaders gratitude is an especially powerful place to go in times of stress or uncertainty. Gratitude for those things that appear to not be working as we prefer becomes a wonderful reminder that there is something bigger at work in our lives and that control is most often an illusion. It helps us remember that everyone in our lives has something to offer even if it isn't what we'd like to get from them. For me gratitude is also a good way to remember that life doesn't always happen on my time table! Expressing gratitude is a way for me to cut through the mind-chatter and focus on what is really important. It helps me to be a more compassionate, patient and understanding human being.

For the next 60 days I intend to focus joyfully on those things in my life that I am grateful for. I'll be using my Facebook page to express some gratitude and we'll see what that opens up for me in other places as a result. Like this blog, which has become a way for me to identify my passions, observe what seems to work best for the leaders around me, and assimilate those ideas into my own life. Let the gratitude gates open!!