Want to find joy in your life? Love? Happiness? Self-worth? Inspiration? Kindness? Compassion? Wholeness? Peace? Then be grateful!

Gratitude is “THE KEY” to a joyful, more fulfilled life. When you are in gratitude, you are in the present moment. Gratitude makes you stop and take a breath. You might not even realize it but when you are grateful, you are in the now – this moment in time.

Gratitude awakens all your positive emotions and makes you feel better. This is because the feeling of gratitude starts in the heart where your soul resides. Those happy emotions then spread throughout your body and into your brain. And when it enters your brain, your focus gets more clear and you are now in the present moment where all possibilities exist. Gratitude helps you to feel complete, whole and joyful.

It may take some effort to feel gratitude but you can get there by working to change your mindset. And yes, it is work. Our minds want to keep going back to the same old thoughts because they have created “pathways” in the brain. The more you think a thought, the deeper the pathway. But you can train your mind to create new pathways by thinking new thoughts. When you find yourself feeling ungrateful, try to find something in your life to be grateful for. Your breath is an excellent reason to be grateful. Without it, you would not be here.

I have worked on being grateful. It took some time and many setbacks, but now I find it much easier to get into gratitude when I am feeling down. Many of us have reasons to be grateful, but we tend to concentrate on what is wrong instead of what is right with our lives. Instead embrace all that is good in your life! Make a conscious effort to connect to gratitude. When you do, you will connect your mind, body and spirit together to create a wonderful, amazing life!

Start by being more grateful. Be grateful that you woke up today, had food to eat and a place to sleep at night because some people don’t. Be grateful for your job, your family, your friends and your health. Once you turn your mindset towards gratitude, the more you become grateful and the easier it will be to find gratitude in your life. It is a circle. What you put out into the world, you get back. It is the law of cause and effect.

And what better time of the year to be grateful than Thanksgiving? This year concentrate on what is good in your life and be thankful for it. When you start living from a place of gratitude, I promise you, you will find more joy, love and compassion. If you want more joy and happiness in your life, then change your mindset to one of gratitude. And when you do, miracles can and will happen!

Thank you Theresa Rodgers for sending me the Brene Brown video that inspired this post! I am grateful for you!