As the holiday season approaches, remember to celebrate your achievements, express gratitude, and cultivate a mindset that attracts abundance. At ActionCOACH, we invite you to embrace gratitude as a powerful force for positive change in both personal and professional spheres.
Remember when your parents or grandparents used to say, “Say the magic words”, usually that meant “please”. But there are two additional words, "thank you", that are just as magical. Who would have expected two words to have so much power? Showing appreciation and acknowledging gratitude for others can have cathartic results in all areas of your life. Since ancient times, philosophers have touted the benefits of living a life filled with gratitude. But you don’t have to be Socrates to understand being thankful and demonstrating appreciation adds to your overall well-being.
Saying ‘thank you’ without intent, however, can come off as insincere and hollow. So, it is important that gratitude and the acts of thankfulness become habitual and organic to your personality. This doesn’t mean thanking people for expected behaviors; it means you are in tune with critical moments that call for you to send and receive the benefits of gratitude. Ask yourself a few check-in questions…
Do you send handwritten notes of thankfulness to a colleague, supplier, or employee?
Do you keep a gratitude journal where you memorialize thankfulness?
Do you meditate, pray, or find time to be calm and reflect to help center your thoughts and feelings?
Do you actively and mentally show YOURSELF gratitude for accomplishments made or goals achieved?
Do you celebrate the small victories and the small steps forward in your life and business?
In times of crisis and as life begins to enter a new norm, gratitude will be a useful mindset to help us move forward. A couple of years ago, the fear and uncertainty of the pandemic, led many of us to forget to be thankful for what we have and instead, yearn for what we have lost. This becomes the fictitious circle. The less satisfaction or appreciation for the new state of what we have, the more you will attract more positive results.
Finding something to be thankful for when your business is closed, your bills are mounting, and when the future is unsure, can seem insurmountable. You may have to dig deeper to find smaller things to be thankful for. Government assistance with payroll demands is something businesses can be thankful for, but like most habits that stick, you have to verbalize it. Say it out loud: “I am thankful for the resources available to me during the pandemic to get my business reopened and restarted”.
The article "Gratitude Appreciation" at PositivePsychology.com defined gratitude in an article in May 2020 as “. . . gratitude is more than feeling thankful: it is a deeper appreciation for someone (or something) that produces longer lasting positivity” (Ackerman, 2020). Becoming more grateful and allowing more grace into your life can have the following outcomes:
Enhanced well-being with better Physical and Mental Health
Deeper Relationships
Improved Optimism
Increased Happiness
Stronger Self-Control
The article "Benefits of Gratitude" at Happierhuman.com outlines the benefits of being more thankful outside your personal life. Businesses and careers can see tangible improvements by being more grateful to employees, clients, and yourself. Here are a few benefits:
Becoming a more effective manager
Helping you network
Helping you achieve and attain goals
Improving your decision-making capabilities
Increasing productivity
During the holiday season, finding ways to bring more gratitude to your life can benefit your personal and professional growth. Celebrate the smallest of achievements and share that gratitude with those in your circle. Spread gratitude, add a thank you, and remember to appreciate life’s opportunities to bring more abundance to you in return.
Edited from the original article by ActionCOACH Stacy Spahle
https://www.actioncoach.com/blogs/the-power-of-gratitude/
November 28, 2023
