Wealth Creation Power of Gratitude
Do you have an attitude of gratitude?
There’s been a lot of focus both in the media, at the water cooler and at the family dinner table about the terrible financial loss people have been dealing with. Jobs have been declining at an incredible rate. The bureau of labor statistics reported In December, the number of unemployed persons increased by 632,000 to 11.1 million and the unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent.
Some people have lost more than 50% of their IRA and 401K savings and no one, even if you have a terrific credit score, we’re talking more than 720, are having a difficult time accessing credit.
All this is understandably disturbing. It has stricken fear into the hearts of Americans and citizens worldwide. Suddenly everything we’ve taken for granted is gone. This loss of security has affected even those who have yet to really suffer any financial loss. We’re all left with a lot of questions and an abundance of uncertainty.
With all of this unfortunate news there is one thing you can do to regain your security, to regain your control, and to get started on a path to even greater wealth and abundance.
Gratitude.
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
-Melodie Beattie
The first steps of Gratitude and Wealth Creation
Gratitude is an emotion. It’s recognizing and feeling appreciative of what you have. Now this can be difficult if you’re losing money at a record rate, if you’re in debt, and if you’re at risk or have lost your job. No matter where you are financially, even if you’re at the very bottom, there is always something to be grateful for. Are you breathing? Do you have someone who loves you? Do you have food on your table? Do you have job? Do you have skills, abilities, and knowledge unique to you? Do you have your health? There is always something to be grateful for and the first step to wealth creation is to recognize what you do have and to be grateful for it.
When you look at what you do have rather than what you do not have it changes your perspective. It gives you power, hope, and strength to look at your present and your future differently.
Focusing on what you don’t have or what you have lost doesn’t change or solve anything. You still don’t have it. However focusing on what you do have changes everything. It gives you the ability to make plans for the future. To grow what you presently have, even if it is only your breath.
Feeling Gratitude is Profitable
Napoleon Hill, author of the esteemed and widely read “Think and Grow Rich,” speaks of gratitude as a way to overcome your fears. Overcoming your fears is imperative to attain great wealth.
It’s easy to know you’re supposed to be grateful, to say thank you for what you have however feeling gratitude is another thing altogether. Spiritual and financial experts often recommend keeping a gratitude journal. Write down what you’re grateful for. Make a routine out of it and document your gratitude every day, perhaps at the end of the day as you’re getting ready for bed or first thing in the morning.
While this type of gratitude experience is a great start, it is not enough.
Journaling can easily become another task. “I have to write down 5 things I’m grateful for before I go to bed,” doesn’t inspire actually feeling grateful.
In order to achieve the kind of effects, the power of gratitude, you must feel grateful down to your core. Every cell in your body needs to sing “THANK YOU.” This requires quiet contemplation.
Think about what you’re grateful for and why. If you’re grateful for the food on your plate, why are you grateful for it? Who are you grateful to? What does having food on your plate right now mean to you?
When you’re grateful down to your core this type of gratitude becomes a way of life. It affects everything you do, every decision you make, and how you interact. If you believe the law of attraction then you know that you attract more of what you focus on and when your heart is singing thank you, you’ll attract more of what you want into your life.
Expressing Gratitude Is Profitable
It’s important to note that as you’re building a business, gratitude plays a critical role in how your customers and prospects relate to you. This goes beyond saying a quiet thank you for your customers and actually thanking them.
The Psychology of Consumer Behavior by, Carey, Clicque, Leighton, & Milton, 1976, showed that when customers of a jewelry store were called and thanked they showed a 70% increase in purchases. This was compared to customers who were not called at all and customers who were thanked and then notified about a promotion. Simple gratitude goes a long way toward boosting business profits and increasing wealth.
The same concept is embraced by restaurant servers who write a simple “Thank you” on the bill – they receive larger tips. Think about that big tip jar on the counter at your local coffee shop. Are you more likely to put a dollar in there if it says “Thank you” or if it says “God is watching you,” or even if it says nothing at all? A big “Thank you” goes a long way.
So how can you thank your current customers?
Send them a letter.
Send them a personal email
Give them a call
Give them something for free
Recognize them on your website, blog, or newsletter
We’re all in this world together. Understanding that, appreciating, that and expressing gratitude not only for your customers but for everything you have in life is the first step toward receiving all that you desire. It’s more than having a glass half full attitude, though that is a super start; it’s about sharing that attitude with everyone around you.
We’re drawn to people who are positive, who are grateful, and who appreciate us and what they have. Instead of focusing on what you don’t have or what you’ve lost, use the power of gratitude to build on what you do have. You’ll be grateful for the results.
a wise and caring person once said….
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, People may Accuse you of Selfish, Ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be Honest and Frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis,
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
Mother Theresa
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To Your Success!
Jeremy Gislason
SureFireWealth INC
SureFireWealth.com
Follow us on Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/SureFireWealth
What do you think about this article? What are you grateful for? Leave your comments below…
You are free to link back to this article from your websites, blogs and social bookmark sites as well as tell others via email or word of mouth.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Great Article Jeremy.
Really love to read all your posts.
Regards,
-Gabriel
January 29th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Hi Jeremy,
A big Thank You for the article.
It’s really refreshing to hear someone with a positive attitude, and being just a little nicer to everyone you meet really does make both giver and receiver feel better.
Be thankful for what you’ve got.
Regards
Jim
January 29th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Right-o. And here’s a good idea to make gratitude work for you: place a paypal donation box on your website/blog on which you publish useful information. If your readers find the information really helpful, they’ll donate generously out of (you guessed it!) gratitude.
Now those of you who implement this brilliant idea and earn a tidy sum in donations, don’t forget to send some of it my way!
All the best.
-Oswald
January 29th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Another great article guys.
I think most of us probably fall into the trap of taking things in life for granted. The great Tony Robbins has always taught to live in an attitude of gratitude. Starting your day off going through all the things you are grateful for definitely causes a ‘shift’ inside.
Imagine the difference between dragging yourself out of bed moaning about being tired and the weather outside and “I’ve got work to do” and…and…and…!
OR, Springing up with a bit of energy and thinking how grateful you are to be alive and how grateful you are to even have the eyesite to find your way to the shower that gushes out water that you didn’t even have to walk half a mile for…AND it’s HOT!
And that’s all before you’re even dressed in the morning.
Also, going back to a previous topic, ‘The Law Of Attraction’, being in a constant attitude of gratitude can only attract more of the ‘good stuff’ into your life.
So, I agree, be thankful for even the smallest things in your life even if life seems a bit crappy in that moment. We can all find at least one thing to be grateful for.
Keep on keeping on.
Chaz.
January 29th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
There is always someone who is worse off than ourselves, although when we are feeling sorry for ourselves, we forget about that fact.
So we just sit back in our comfy chair, stick on the air conditioner (it got to 44 degrees here in Oz today..), get a nice cold drink from the fridge and put our feet up, and whinge!
So yeah… I get where you are coming from. Thinking positive helps too. It’s hard to think positive when you can’t be greatful for something.
Cheers, Glenda
January 29th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Jeremy I couldn’t agree more. Gratitude is really a state of mind. As it says in the Good Book, “In everything give thanks.” When you are continuously in a state of gratitude you open your heart to receive. That receiving can be more business, better health, or more love. An easy way to get your self into the Gratitude Attitude is to keep a Gratitude Journal. I do this and I have to tell you that it helps keeps the blues away. Simply write down three things everyday for which you are thankful. After you have done this for a few days, you will begin to feel different. When you have started feeling the Gratitude Attitude, I suggest to my clients, send your customers a Thank You card. I send real cards via first class mail. Your customers will love it. If you need an affordable and easy way to get this done, check out the system I use at http://www.trysendoutcards.com. You can even try the system for free. Send someone a thank you card today.
January 29th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Hi Jeremy,
Gratitude is so important in life and your article really
hits the nail on the head.
I developed my Create Abundance in your Life
newsletter for exactly that reason and I’d like to
share it with your readers as it’s free to join.
It teaches you weekly what you can do to bring
abundance into your life and how to create your
life and attract all you desire into it.
Wishing you all the best,
Shamira
http://createabundance.ws
January 29th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I too like to say this when things are looking grim. “There’s always someone a lot worse off than you”
It puts things into perspective.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Absolutely. There is a cycle of thoughts, feelings and behaviours. If you have a feeling of gratitude, it will lead you to create internal images of what you are grateful for and to take actions to produce more of it.
If you are thinking about all the dire economic news, it makes you feel bad and you either fail to act or take the wrong actions.
I don’t agree with the ‘someone worse off than you’ idea. That would cause you to hold mental images of problems, which is not what you want at all.
Focus on the good stuff and you might get into a position to help those worse off than yourself.
I am grateful to be in a sound financial situation and able to make a contribution.
Cheers
Rich
January 30th, 2009 at 1:05 am
Great article and I totally agree that gratitude is very important in every aspect of life. I am grateful for all the little things as well as the big things and everything in between. Gratitude not only bring peace of mind but more to be grateful for, this famous quote sums it up well:
“There’s a self expansive aspect of gratitude. Very possibly it’s a little known law of Nature the more gratitude you have, the more you have to be grateful for.” -Elaine St. James
January 30th, 2009 at 6:25 am
Jeremy, thank you for the article. I definitely agree that what you focus on, expands. And in hard times, there’s a lot of negativity going on all around you. It’s so easy to get caught up in that type of thinking and then before you know it, you’re experiencing hard times. PapaJoe D
January 30th, 2009 at 7:12 am
A powerful self motivation lesson that gives hope even to those who are so disadvantaged that they almost give up hope. This reminds me of an adage I was told in the past that you should appreciate your problem or suffering by comparing the magnitude of yours with a person with a worse problem than yours.
January 30th, 2009 at 9:10 am
This article is so appropriate, especially now that the economy is so terrible. So many unfortunate folks out of a job. When I hear someone complain about their job, I always say….”Just be GRATEFUL you HAVE a job”.
We all have many things to be grateful for and many people to whom we owe gratitude. We should always have that in the front of our minds. Be gracious with your thank yous and they will return to you 10 fold.
January 30th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Excellent post Jeremy. With things so hard at the moment for many of us we often forget we should be grateful for everything we do have.
January 30th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Beautiful article, Jeremy.
I follow the Good Book mentioned above. I feel and express my gratitude often, and make a special point of doing so before I go to sleep at night. But I also express gratitude as often as I can to people I encounter during the day, including people online whom I have never met, but who have made my day a little easier in some way. I have found that most people online are willing to take the extra step and help a newbie.
Like Bob above, I also believe in sending Thank You cards – or a telephone call, depending on the situation.
The Gratitude Journal works for some, but not for others. It’s probably a good way for people to make a start, if they’re not in the habit of focussing on Gratitude, until it becomes a part of their life.
Yellow stick-it notes around the computer containing positive messages are another way of focussing on the positives in life.
It is so easy to say we have a lot to feel unhappy about, but that can lead to despair for many. I agree that we should LOOK for things to be grateful for, if they’re not readily apparent. We’ll soon find that there are plenty, as you have illustrated.
All the best,
Catherine
January 30th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Great article Jeremy,
And a great reminder of how your attitude effects your own life and others around you. So easily we tend to get focused on what we don’t have in life. And actually lose what we could have.
Like the author Norman Vincent Peale wrote in his famous book “The Power of Positive Thinking” – You are what you think. You feel what you want. Maintaining positive thinking and attitude will drive you to success and happiness.
I believe gratitude is the heart of positive thinking or the beginning of it. And practicing gratitude daily can only lead to good things!
To Your Success,
William
January 30th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Great Jeremy. Thanks for reminding us why we should be grateful. I’m going to send out an email to my list members right now.
It’s all about realizing we are fortunate to live in infinite abundance. Gracias.
January 31st, 2009 at 1:29 am
‘Count your blessings’ is good advice. I notice that you recommend ‘quiet contemplation’. I try and get a a bit of quiet contemplation and gratitude when I take a moment to enjoy nature – whether on a walk or just looking at a flower in a pot or a vase.
It can be hard to be open to change and opportunity when fear and loss are in the air.
Thanks for your article.
February 7th, 2009 at 6:46 am
That was a wonderful article Jeremy, true and very powerful way of receiving without being guilty of ingratitude, I come from the old school where we never failed to say Thank You for everyone of the smallest services done for us. And often I find myself wanting to correct the younger ones for taking everything they have for granted. Thank you Jeremy, you really made me feel I was lacking in my thanks to the Good Lord for all I have.
Which reminds me I need to say Thank You to you for all the times you have written and given me endless opportunities to use and which I have not appreciated fully.