About a year and a half ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Cat Wagman about her book Why Thank You. She shared tremendous insight that night on Get Motivated With Jonathan JDOGG Lederman, heard at www.blogtalkradio.com/hrafnstongradio on monday from 7-8 PM EST. The nugget that I took away from the show that night was that success starts with gratitude.
The idea that it all starts with gratitude was reinforced when Josh Hinds author of Live Big appeared on my show and we discussed one of his chapters of the book that was dedicated to gratitude.
As I continued to reflect on all the successful people that appeared on my show I saw a reoccurring theme emerging as they all attributed their success to creating an attitude of gratitude. I have done over 100 shows and each show comes back to the premise that if you show gratitude and express gratitude that you lay the foundation of your spiritual awakening and thus move forward in a positive direction of exceeding your goals and objectives and thus growing along the way.
This is thank you in Tagalog, one of the many languages spoken in The Phillipines, the country where I served in The U.S. Peace Corps as part of The English Language Assistance Program. I worked with at risk youth at a Regional Rehabilitation For Youth teaching them Math, English, and Livlihood Skills. I guess this is where my spiritual awakening began as I would awake and say Maraming Slamat GOD for another great day.I would board whatever type of transportation I could find at 7:00 AM and make my way to The RRCY in Bauang, La Union and I would eagerly await my students and I would say Maraming Salamat to them as they entered thanking them for coming to class. This became part of my everyday practice and interactions and I saw that by showing gratitude I was getting results. The more grateful I was toward someone the more things began to come my way. When I arrived back in the states I began to tell people about my experience in The U.S.Peace Corps and how grateful I was for the opportunity. The lesson here is that gratitude is the great beginning to your spiritual awakening and that when you show gratitude you are rewarded in many ways.
One tool that I highly recommend as you continue with your spiritual awakening is a gratitude journal. I keep a journal and I always start it with today I am grateful for……. I find that on the days that I write in the journal I have much success and the day seems to flow easier and thus I am beginining to write a journal entry every day.
It is by practicing and exhibiiting gratitude that you continue to shine your light and as a result the world is a better place because of the time you spent to show gratitude.
When you awake be grateful for another day to positively impact your life and the lives of others. Through out the day practice gratitude, and at night as you lay down to rest express gratitude for the gifts given in the day.
For the next 21 days I want to find ways to show gratitude and to share the feelings and the outcomes that occured as a result.
Spiritual Awakening: Ways To Show Gratitude
If you work with people give them a thank you note. Send your clients a Thank You gift it can be something small letting them know you appreciate them.
Begin to live in gratitude by expressing gratitude. In the world of social media where it seems facebook is king you can post on someone’s wall Just wanted to say thank you for being in my life you are appreciated.
Go into your next staff meeting, if you have a staff, greeting everyone and thanking them for all they are doing and how much you appreciate them an if possible give them a gratitude stone.
I chose to close with this song as its beautiful lyrics send the message of being thankful for all that comes into our life. Be it difficult times or easy times we all can endure with a bit of gratitude.
Be grateful and express gratitude and you will see how much you expand and grow. I look forward to reading your comments and sharing what you are grateful for with others. It is when we appreciate what we have that we eventually get what we want. Take a moment to acknowledge someone for the help they have given you. This week be sure to express gratitude everyday.
JDOGG is known as The Positive Broadcaster. He is about being of service and value to others by sharing a positive message and helping people to grow personally, professionally, and spiritually. He is very involved with The American Cancer Society Relay For Life. His dedication to help other people excel is amazing and he has many awards for his service to the community.
