Gratitude Today

Do you find gratitude difficult to maintain? You get up each morning and tell yourself that you will keep your positive focus and be grateful for everything that happens. As the day goes on, however, these good intentions just sort of run out of steam as you deal with negative people and situations. The good news is that you can accomplish this with practice. Part of the difficulty in maintaining an attitude of gratitude is that you are trying to change a lifetime of negative thinking.

If you have spent most of your life focusing on the negative, go a little easy on yourself and do not try to change your thinking at all once. We all try to do that when we set good intentions. It does take practice and here is a good place to start: do it for today. For just one day, make a commitment that you are going to maintain a positive focus and be grateful no matter what happens. Most people can do something for a single day.

To really start to change your thinking for today, find a focus object that will remind you throughout the day of your intentions. It can be anything, maybe a favorite watch, a photo that you set on your desk, whatever helps. On the day that you have chosen for this change of attitude, concentrate for a few minutes on your chosen focus object. Choose to feel the gratitude that you know is in your heart. Once you have that feeling and are absorbed in it, state your intentions for the day out loud. It does not have to be long or elaborate or a presidential speech. "Just for today, I am grateful for everything that happens. Every challenge will present something positive. When negative thoughts happen, I will use my focus object as a reminder that gratitude is my choice. I choose gratitude today."