Letter Of The Heart - Attitude Of Gratitude

Greetings!

For most people the month of November is labeled as the month of Thanksgiving and the beginning of the holiday season.   For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving was the time of year when the family got together and ate turkey and some great food!   As I got older and became an adult, I realized that it was also the month in which the concept of gratitude was widely discussed.  The notion of gratitude began to appeal to me and caused me to dig deeper about what it really means to me and the power that can come from it. For years as a young adult, then a young family man and business owner, my mind would somehow always tend to look at the "glass" as half empty rather than half full. Maybe it was due to the way I was raised or the family conversations that went on as I was growing up, but I started to notice that I was becoming much more critical of myself, in a negative way, as time went on. It wasn’t until I started becoming more intentional about gratitude and learning more about the power of gratitude, did my mindset about my life start to improve. The saying, “We are our own worst critic”, couldn’t be truer in today's world, driven by what we see on social media, the shows we watch, and what our friends and family are doing. The crazy thing is, when we compare ourselves and our lives to that of others, we are never enough. For years, I did just that. Then, one of my early business coaches began teaching me that by focusing on gratitude prior to starting my day, I would really set the tone for what followed during that day. He instructed me to write in a journal each morning when I arrived at the office, before I turned on my computer. He had me write down the following two items:

1. The ten things for which I’m grateful.

2. The three things that made me happy in the previous 24 hours.

It didn’t actually change my mindset and energy after the first week or so, but I started realizing a difference after a few weeks, then a huge difference after a few months. Within a few years it became a part of me and permanently changed the way that I began every new day, how my family members each started their days, and how my team began their days. This simple exercise transformed the way in which I operated my life, externally and internally. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still my own worst critic and I can definitely be hard on myself. Yet, now, I’m much quicker to get into gratitude and count all that I should be grateful for in all aspects of my life. And when I can instantly feel gratitude, I am able to appreciate all that’s in my life and operate from a place of positivity rather than negativity and unhappiness. I’m not sure where you stand on the concept of gratitude, yet as a friend, I’d highly recommend that you try the two exercises above daily for a few weeks and see how this can change your perspective for the better!

All The Best,

Fred Sed                                                                                                                                                                             

PS:  If I can be of service to you or anyone that you know, please call me!  

(949) 274-3733  |  Fred@FredSedGroup.com