The 5 Laws Of Intentional Gratitude

The year 2023 is finally rolling to an end. Despite the trials, stress and unfortunate incidents, there is every reason for those of us crossing over it to another year, to thank the ever faithful father who has kept us to see this goodness. This journey calls for reflections and gratitude.
Most of the times, people approach me to teach them the secrets of my gratitude. Well, it’s very simple.
Someone with an attitude of gratitude appreciates everything in life. You are grateful for your relationships, health, business, and general sense of well-being. There is satisfaction and joy lodged in your inner mind. Having an attitude of gratitude is important because it shifts your focus from yourself to appreciating someone else, or something else, most especially, God, the provider of all.
An attitude of gratitude means making it a conscious habit to express thankfulness and appreciation for every part of your life. Having an attitude of gratitude means you operate from a place of abundance, rather than scarcity.
When you develop an attitude of gratitude, you feel happier and more positive. Gratitude increases compassion and self-care. It also makes you grateful for the people and things that matter.
In this our chat today, I’ll share the importance of being grateful and give you five strategies on how to develop an attitude of gratitude.
The Importance Of Gratitude
Gratitude shifts your mind-set!
Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what you have, not what you don’t have. When you express gratitude, you feel more positive and are more intentional.
Developing an attitude of gratitude requires a mind-set shift to make it a daily habit to be grateful for, and thankful for everything you have or face in life.
Gratitude is important because what you appreciate grows and increases in value. When you practice gratitude, your relationships, your work, your health, and your mind-set become more important to you.
Being grateful improves your self-confidence, self-esteem, and enhances your enjoyment of the present moment. When you feel grateful daily, you feel more positive and become more present in the moment.
UNDERSTANDING GRATITUDE
An attitude of gratitude means creating a conscious mind-set and habit to express thankfulness, and being grateful for every aspect of your life, both the things that are going well and those things that aren’t.
When you have an attitude of gratitude, you focus on expanding the positives in your life, rather than dwelling on the negatives.
When you express gratitude you feel more confident, positive, and optimistic. You also feel happier and joyful about the things you have, and the people that matter most. This mind-set reduces stress, overwhelm frustration and creates feelings of abundance and happiness.
Gratitude Development
Let’s begin with the five ways to develop an attitude of gratitude: I call them, The 5 laws of Intentional Gratitude
1. The Law Of Appreciation
The first key to developing a gratitude attitude is to embrace the law of appreciation.
Appreciate everything!
To cultivate an attitude of gratitude, look for things to appreciate daily. Developing active gratitude is different from reactive gratitude. With reactive gratitude, you wait for something to happen before you express appreciation or thanks. With active gratitude, you consciously look for ways to be grateful and express appreciation. Expressing gratitude thus becomes a choice.
When you express gratitude daily, the things and people you appreciate grow in value. You also start to see more things to be grateful for, which makes you happier and more contented.
By appreciating everything, you will have far more gratitude in your life which increases positivity and happiness. Being a positive, grateful person attracts other people into your life who have a similar mind-set.
2. The Law Of Daily Acknowledgments
“That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.”- Philemon 1:6
Developing a gratitude attitude demands the practice of acknowledging what you’re thankful for or appreciate every day, this will expand the value of the things you are grateful for.
Express gratitude every day! To cultivate an attitude of gratitude, it’s important to express gratitude daily, rather than on occasion.
Increasing gratitude starts with setting up your day to be thankful. A good gratitude practice is to start and end each writing down three things you’re grateful for.
Expressing gratitude daily builds positive habits, and forces you to appreciate every day, even if you’ve had a bad day.
The repeated process of expressing gratitude daily helps to deepen relationships, improves your self-care practice and gives you time to think and be present.
Developing a gratitude practice may seem strange or difficult at first. After a few days, it gets easier to identify and express gratitude for the things you’re grateful for.
3. The Law Of Gratitude Masterminds
Gratitude Masterminds refers to people who practice gratitude intelligently. They are those who are grateful for everything.
Surround yourself with people whose focus is gratitude.
“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”-
Proverbs 13:20.
To develop an attitude of gratitude, it’s important to surround yourself with people who also have a gratitude mind-set. When you surround yourself with people who practice gratitude, your gratitude and appreciation grow. You feel happier, more positive, more energised, and more motivated when you spend more time in a positive environment.
If you spend time with negative people or people with a scarcity mind-set, you’re more likely to have a similar mind-set. Find people who are grateful and appreciative and spend more time with them. Take your gratitude practice to the next level by sending handwritten letters or notes to those people saying how much you appreciate them.
4. The Law Of Present Ownership
Learn to take ownership of your present!
Developing an attitude of gratitude starts with appreciating and giving thanks for what you have. Being happy about what you’ve achieved and giving thanks to the people in your life increases your gratitude.
When you take ownership of the present moment, you choose to be grateful. You choose to be optimistic and positive about the present. When you are grateful for your present situation, you can reframe how you think about what’s important right now. This will help you get clear on the future you want to create.
When you take ownership of the present, you focus on achievements and the progress you’ve made in your life. A positive mind-set reframes negative thoughts and builds confidence from past accomplishments.
When you express gratitude, feelings of anger, guilt, and self-pity stop. They are replaced by feelings of self-confidence and self-worth. This also builds positivity and excitement.
When we feel grateful, we make decisions and communicate more effectively. We also take action to create the life we want.
5. The Law Of Gratitude Expression
Commit to a gratitude practice!
When you commit to a daily gratitude practice your mind-set and thinking change. When you appreciate things that matter, you get more insight into what’s important to you.
This gives you a chance to pause and think about your purpose. You get clear on why things are important and why certain things and people are valuable to you.
Committing to a gratitude practice helps you understand why you appreciate certain things rather than others. You also get to see the positive effect your gratitude has on others.
Start an attitude of gratitude by choosing to appreciate the most important things in your life right now. You can start practicing gratitude by writing down three things you’re grateful for each day. Look back to the beginning of the year 2023, trace your path, count the blessings and say, THANK YOU GOD.
When you express gratitude, a gratitude habit develops that will change your life. An attitude of gratitude also ensures you feel happier, more positive, and more excited.
The value of the people that matter most will appreciate. This ensures you appreciate them even more.