A Heart of Gratitude

A Heart of Gratitude.  Today I challenge you to have and maintain a heart of gratitude.  It's easy to get stuck in our mundane routines.  Wake up, get dressed, go to work, cook, clean, shower, etc only to sleep and wake to do the same thing all over again day in day out. Our routine can also desensitize us to all the things and the people around us we have to be thankful for.  Auto-pilot kicks in and we forget to thank our spouse for taking out the trash, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, working hard for the family, etc.  Today I want you to thank your spouse for EVERYTHING he/she does today for you, your kids, and your family.  Thank him/her for the big things, the small things, and even for the things that are his/her "duty". Just say, Thank You. A grateful heart does not complain or compare.  A grateful heart does not grumble or gripe. Having a grateful heart will fill you and your spouse up and it will make you and your spouse want to keep giving. Your gratitude towards your loved one can be spoken and/or it can be shown.  A grateful heart is beautiful and mutually giving.  Gratitude makes you feel good and makes the one you are expressing it to feel great!

There are many ways to look for gratitude in our everyday life.  If you're having a hard time finding it you can start with being grateful for the breath you are breathing right now.  Being grateful for the love you have in your life that has inspired you to challenge your love to make it better.  You can keep a gratitude journal by writing down all the things that you are grateful for daily.  You can also start a Good Stuff Jar in your home and keep a list of all the things you and your family are grateful for.

Filling your heart with gratitude can be as easy as taking a few minutes when you rise in the morning to acknowledge the things and the people you are grateful for. In addition, spend some time before you go to bed at night acknowledging the things and the people that you are grateful for.

Thank you for participating in The Love Challenge! Thank you for reading and thank you for your commitment to love better. In that alone my heart is filled.

"Gratitude ... 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