Attitude of Gratitude? (yeah, Right…)

by | Sep 20, 2011 | Mental Wellness, Wellness Tips & Information

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Author: Dr. Noelle Nelson

 

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You’ve been in a frightful mood these past few weeks. You’re living paycheck to paycheck just covering expenses, practicing the fine art of “which credit card do I max out now and who do I pay before my credit dumps out totally?” You’re terrified you’re going to lose that precious foothold you have on the American Dream, aka your 2 bedroom, 1 ½ bath duplex, for you’ve heard rumors twittered and blogged that your company is considering more layoffs, and what could be more dispensable than your 2nd designer assistant job?

So when your co-worker Miss Perky bounces in, gleaming from her pre-work jog, and flashes her immaculately whitened smile at you, saying: “Tut-tut, I see a gloomy face. Where’s your attitude of gratitude?” you roar with undisguised hatred and lunge for her throat.

OK, well, so you don’t roar/lunge, you whimper and stare resolutely down at your desk, clutching the work you can’t seem to get started, and think nasty thoughts, like “Attitude of gratitude, my *%^*! Like I have anything to be grateful for. . .”

Well, you do – although it certainly may not seem that way right now – and the more you focus on what you have to be grateful for, what you can appreciate, the more quickly and easily you will lift yourself out of your current woes.

You see, when you are consumed with thoughts of doom, you don’t see the opportunities for success and joy all around you. Appreciation and gratitude are not just cute buzz words. They are very real perceptual choices, which in turn open up very real options for you. You can choose what you pay attention to in your environment, and what you choose to pay attention to has consequences.

When you expend all your energy worrying about the fate of your duplex, you’re not looking for ways to keep your duplex – like rent out one of the rooms, find a roommate, finally turning your craft hobby into a source of extra dollars, etc. Your worry becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you are riveted by tales of imminent company disaster, you are not doing all that you can to make your job – and yourself – so valuable to the company that you’d be the one person retained despite massive layoffs. If anything, trailing your misery behind you like a bedraggled Iore, you make yourself that much less attractive an employee.

An attitude of gratitude, appreciating what you have, what is already in your life, is a way of seeing the opportunities that abound to help you achieve whatever it is you want.

So yes, especially when the situation looks foreboding, when it seems circumstances are against you, rouse yourself to an active search for “What could I appreciate here? What could have value for me? What possibility can I be genuinely thankful for?” and go for it with all the energy that the anticipation of success and joy can bring.

Attitude of gratitude? Yeah, right!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/motivational-articles/attitude-of-gratitude-yeah-right-624195.html

About the Author

Noelle C. Nelson, Ph.D. is a respected psychologist, consultant, speaker and author. Her most recent books are “The Power of Appreciation in Everyday Life” (Insomniac Press, 2006) and “The Power of Appreciation in Business (MindLab Publishing, 2005). For more than a decade, she has helped people live happier, healthier lives through appreciation–at work, at home and in relationships. E-mail: nnelson@dr.noellenelson.com, website: www.noellenelson.com.

About the Manifest Excellence, LLC

Manifest Excellence, LLC supports people in optimizing personal wellness by addressing the five key areas that impact health. They combine over 20 years traditional medical experience with a comprehensive & holistic wellness philosophy to provide innovative and effective wellness strategies.

Donna Hamilton, MD, MS, FAAP
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