GRATITUDE IS:

-- the bold attitude of looking for the good present and then magnifying it.

-- the definitive decision to claim your joy regardless of the situation.

-- a garden where creative and solution-oriented thoughts can bloom.

-- a healthy perspective of reality.

-- the on-switch to a life lived with joy and freedom.

How do I know this? I’ve proven it a million times! In today’s talk, I’ll share one way I break through the doldrums when things feel so bleak that it seems IMPOSSIBLE to be grateful for ANYTHING. Also, I’ll give you a couple of examples about how gratitude saved the life of someone I greatly admire, as well as my own sanity.

What is the opposite of gratitude? Complaint. Human tendency is utterly bovine in that it regurgitates complaint… chews the same cud (or ‘crud’) over and over. Ingratitude is the state of mind where we see only the negative and magnify it in our thinking, conversations, the way we drive and every other thing we do.

So… when I am terrified or hurt… when I am angry or depressed… when I cannot see much good in my life… I reason like this:

-- 99% of my life is great.

-- 1% is not.

-- This measly 1% screams so loudly that it appears bigger.    But it’s not… it’s just a noisy 1%. I am not impressed.

-- So… let me look wide open eyes at the 99%-great so that I can be more realistic.

Unfailingly, when I begin with this 99%-great approach, a more balanced perspective kicks in and the 1% diminishes even further. My joy is restored and I am able to meet my challenges.

Irina Ratushinskaya was incarcerated in a Russian labor camp for dissident activity… her poetry. One Christmas Eve, she and another woman were in SHIZO… a punishment cell. Ratushinskaya was on a hunger strike to protest the prison conditions. Her companion was very ill. They lay on the icy cement floor, barely able to talk.

Ratushinskaya took out a small container of tooth powder and made an outline of a Christmas tree on the floor. Then she sprinkled a bit of water on the outline. It glistened. There, in SHIZO, on the cold, cement floor, the two women sang Christmas carols. Her bold attitude of looking for and magnifying the good present kept Ratushinskaya alive time and time again. She now lives in Washington, D.C.

Through a series of unfortunate events, I found myself with 3 small children, no income and no place to live. For 4 months, we stayed one or two nights here and there. I was overwhelmed. Life seemed way too hard.

I decided to look for and magnify the good present. I rejoiced in the beautiful homes and beautiful friends with whom we stayed. I was delighted by nature. The children never missed a day of school. And… during this time, I was able to help others. My compassion grew. I found a job. Focusing on the good present kept me sane.

When you feel like life is rotten… when you feel irritable, afraid, angry, hurt… when you feel that you’ve been a victim of someone else’s wrong-doing, remember to get sassy! Put your hands on your hips, shake your finger at that screaming little 1% and adopt the bold attitude of gratitude. Your joy and power will return, new ideas will arrive, and you’ll know just what to do… step by step.