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Gratitude is the Highest Attitude

 Here's Why & How It Works 

Gratitude zac-durant-302752
Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash

It’s very in vogue to talk about gratitude. Have you noticed? It’s kind of everywhere. People writing about it, talking about it, recording it in gratitude journals, texting in gratitude chains, creating memes about it and gathering around dinner tables to honor it.

The truth is, being grateful has never been out of vogue. And, there’s a simple explanation for that.

Because Gratitude Works

The law of attraction is grounded in gratitude. When you express what you’re grateful for, in a powerfully energetic way, the universe conspires and moves to give you more of what you’re grateful for. It's the simplest form of 'what you focus on expands.'  

Lack and Gratitude are Polar Opposite Energies 

When you feel you’re lacking something, the moment you shift to a place of gratitude you’re no longer in lack. Even if it’s just for a moment. So, when you think about, if you spend more time in an attitude of gratitude there’s more room for abundance and less and less space for lack.

It’s a pretty simple concept actually.

I interviewed a West African shaman a couple of years ago for a book project. His tribe, members of the Bwiti tradition, subscribe to one, and only one, simple prayer:

“Thank you for this new day.”

They begin each morning with the same declaration: “Thank you for this new day.” Each day is a fresh, clean slate, a new journey. With this simple prayer of gratitude, their minds are clear for what blessings are to come. He said “Every day we come with new thoughts, clear from yesterday’s thoughts."

It's such simple clarity. They live in the present moment in an attitude grounded in gratitude. They are happy people with a deep loving tradition of family and community. 

"Gratitude is heaven itself." William Blake

Living in The High Attitudes

An attitude is defined loosely as a feeling or way of thinking that affect’s a person’s mood or behavior. It's a manner or disposition.

To my way of thinking, you could also think of an attitude as a spiritual level of consciousness. Sometimes it’s easier to wrap your brain around the idea of shifting or adjusting your attitude rather than the notion of lifting your consciousness, which can sometimes feel a bit esoteric. 

The highest attitudes are those that resonate and vibrate at the highest levels of energy, leaving you with a fuller feeling of vitality, contentment and joie de vivre.

The high attitudes:

An attitude of love.
An attitude of understanding.
An attitude of grace.
An attitude of compassion.
An attitude of gratitude.

Gratitude is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega of pinnacle attitudes. 

"I made up my mind to never have another bad day in my life. I dove into an endless sea of gratitude from which I've never emerged." Patch Adams

You know when you, or someone else, is having a “bad attitude.” You’re unhappy, angry, finding flaw with everything around you, often having a hard time shaking the milieu of discontent. And, you may have heard the words (or said them to that someone else), “You seriously need an attitude adjustment.”

Here's where gratitude comes in. What you start with just voicing or internalizing a feeling of gratitude, in whatever moment or situation you’re in, being grateful leads to understanding and compassion and grace and love. Find just one thing in that bad-attitude moment to be grateful for. It starts the shift, the adjustment to a higher attitude.

The Bookend Effect 

And, here's the beauty about the bookend effect of gratitude.

Each of the high attitudes mentioned above, rises again to a place of gratitude.
You can't not be grateful, when you're in a state of love, understanding or compassion.

It’s a powerful cycle. It creates a continual cause and effect, a mobius, an infinity of wellbeing and enlightened living. Gratitude begets love, which begets gratitude. 

That’s why gratitude is the highest attitude.

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." Cicero

According to science, gratitude has some added benefits:

  • Gratitude boosts your health.
  • Gratitude makes your happier. 25% happier science says.
  • Gratitude fosters compassion and surging feelings of love.
  • Gratitude gives you more energy, higher emotional intelligence, feelings of being connected to something greater than yourself.
  • Gratitude makes you less anxious and makes you sleep better.
  • Gratitude creates a stronger desire for being charitable & generous.

Start and end with an attitude of gratitude. You’ll get used to air up there.

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